Temporary
by Timonx3
Summary: Alex had been so careful, separating the parts of his life. But when Jack goes abroad, taking a vacation, all the parts come crashing together...
1. Chapter 1

**Weee, Alex Rider! :D FINALLY! I've been waiting for _ages_ to be able to write this, and now, _finally, _I got to it. But it's a bit rushed, I noticed now, when done with it... But it'd be too troublesome to rewrite it -.- Sorry.**

**This will probably be quite a long fic, I think...**

**Oooh, by the way, it's my second fanfiction. That I upload here, at least. Feel free to give me advices.**

**BY THE WAY, (again), THIS WILL PROBABLY/EVENTUALLY BE SLASH. SOMETIME IN THE NEAR FUTURE. Just so you know :)**

**Disclaimer: I... I really don't own Alex Rider. If I did, K-Unit would be in the books more often xO And one-two-three of them would be G-A-Y! :D**

**____________________________________________________**

"Look, Jack, I'll be _fine_." Alex sighed as he packed his schoolbag.

"But, but are you sure?" Jack Starbright asked, worriedly. "I mean, leaving you like this all of a sudden..."

"It's not forever, is is?" he turned around to face his guardian. "It's just for a couple of months; you _deserve_ a break. You've been stuck in this house for ages, and to get out and see the world won't hurt either of us. I'll be fine." Alex turned back to his bag, trying to fit in not only his math books, English essay (without crinkling it), the Spanish tape and whatever more it was, in his bag.

"But this... _temporary_ guardian, how do we know we can trust him? Or her?" Jack asked, slightly annoyed that Alex wasn't as upset as she was.

"Hopefully, MI6 know what they're doing," he started.

"For once." she cut in. Alex grinned and kept;

"And you're going to meet this guardian today anyway, aren't you? He or she's supposed to come over so you can and... I don't know, talk about what a problem child I am." Alex shrugged, and this time it was Jack's turn to grin.

"Okay, okay... but--"

"It's _your_ holiday, not mine. It was your idea to start with, Jack, and I agree that you need it." with that, Alex shouldered his bag and sighed again.

He said goodbye to Jack and left the house.

~~.._..~~

Jack was taking a break; that was how she'd put it to Alex two weeks ago.

She was, understandably, tired and sick of worrying about this whole deal with MI6; but Jack loved him way too much to leave him permanently, so she came up with a brilliant idea – to simply take a break. A few months, not more.

Alex had agreed, saying that she deserved it, though he was a bit concerned with what was going to happen to him while she was gone.

But all of a sudden MI6 knew of it all, and had designated Alex a temporary guardian.

Alex had _no idea_ of who it was going to be; they hadn't told him. But apparently, he and Jack was going to meet that person today, after Alex had finished school.

He was nervous; Mrs Jones had told him that it was someone he knew, but Alex couldn't figure out who it was.

He prayed that it wouldn't be Crawley, or worse – Alan Blunt, though he doubted that. Maybe Tulip Jones herself? At least that'd be better than anyone else he could think of.

Alex was still thinking about this as he went to school; but as soon as he got there, his mind had to wander elsewhere. _Elsewhere_ being schoolwork.

Strangely, Tom Harris, a good friend of Alex who knew about Alex... "job", was very excited about this '_temporary guardian'_.

"It could be anyone!" Tom grinned. "What if it's a spy? What if he brings you along to work and you'll form the ultimate team? Wouldn't that be _awesome_?"

Though Alex couldn't quite agree. And he'd pointed out, rather dryly, that he _was_ a spy.

Personally, Alex would have just preferred staying at Tom's house while Jack was gone; though he couldn't imagine _anyone_ letting him do that. Except for Tom, who'd be thrilled, but neither of the teens could decide anything like that on their own.

Better yet;_ Alex _would have been overjoyed if they allowed him to just go to Austria and stay with James – yes, _that_ James, James Sprintz – and so would James. Even said boy's father, Dieter Sprintz, said it'd be fine if Alex stayed with them; but _no_, MI6 wouldn't let him.

At the end of the day, Tom followed Alex almost the entire way home, not shutting his mouth for even _one_ _moment_ about "Alex awesome guardian".

But Alex managed to send the other boy home, though Tom had insisted on going in with Alex, trying to convince said boy that he'd be a "moral support".

Alex sighed deeply and entered his house.

The first thing he noticed, was the pair of dark, worn shoes at the door. He noticed the brown jacket that obviously belonged to the same person as he heard voices from the kitchen.

"You're aware of Alex... position? About his... job?" that was Jack, a very suspicious Jack, but Jack nonetheless.

"Yes." grunted another voice. Male. A rather dark, familiar voice.

Alex frowned, disbelief and confusion written all over his face. He took a couple of steps toward the kitchen, not making a sound. He stopped right outside, glancing inside, without being seen himself.

Well, he _thought_ he wasn't seen. But apparently Jack noticed him, and her face cracked into a big smile.

"Alex! Welcome home. Your soon-to-be-_temporary_-caretaker got here before you," she went over to him and dragged him into the kitchen. "Let me introduce Eric Damon."

_Or rather "demon"_, thought Alex, sourly.

Facing him was no one else than Wolf.

Big, evil, bully, leader of K-Unit – yeah, _that _Wolf.

"Cub." Wolf – Eric – grunted and stood up.

"Wolf." Alex replied steadily, meeting Wolf's eyes. He hadn't changed at all – well, except for lacking the rest of the K-Unit and not wearing his uniform (though it really made him look a lot less intimidating).

"Oh. So you've met." Jack stated dryly and shook her head. "Nice to see that you're getting along so well..." she sighed. "Tea, Alex?"

"Yes, thanks, Jack." the teen turned to _his guardian_ (there was no way in _hell_ he was ever going to consider Wolf his guardian, even if it was just temporarily) and offered her s light smile.

Alex left the kitchen; he escaped to his room, even if it was only to leave his bag. He sat down on his bed and took a deep, calming breath. Well, it was _supposed_ to be calming.

_Wolf_ was going to _take care_ of him, for God's sake!

Alex grit his teeth and shook his head; he couldn't afford to let Jack see how much he disliked this man. She'd blame herself for it all and probably cancel her trip... and Alex didn't want that. Jack deserved a break, and she was going to get one, even if Alex would be sent to the House of Doom while she was gone.

He returned down to the kitchen after a couple of minutes, appearing calm.

The teen sat down at the table, opposite of Wolf. Neither said anything as Jack made them tea.

She offered each of them a cup, both teen and man merely grunting "thanks" as response.

There was an awkward silence, as Jack sat down and stared from one male to the other.

"I'd rather have you screaming at each other than this quiet!" she exclaimed after a while.

"Sorry." Alex murmured, automatically. "It'll probably get better after a while. It's just such a... _shock,_ to see Wolf here. _As my guardian_."

"Eric," muttered Wolf. "We're not on an assignment, call me Eric. Or Damon. Whatever you prefer."

"Okay, _Eric_," Alex started, trying not to sound too sarcastic. "How come _you_ have to babysit _me_ for months? What'd they threaten you with?"

"Alex!" exclaimed Jack. "Could you at least _try_ to be nice?"

"Sorry, Jack." the teen murmured, without taking his eyes off the SAS agent.

"Got hurt," Wolf was apparently _not_ happy to admit this. He glared at Alex (he glared at _everything,_ really) and took a sip of his tea. "Got hurt during an assignment."

"Is that so?" suddenly Jack was involved in the conversation as well. She frowned slightly, concerned. "Alex comes back from his... _assignments_ hurt, every time. Do you... what with being in the SAS... get... _similar_ jobs?"

Wolf's glare softened somewhat; he looked from Jack's worried face to Alex, who was shifting uncomfortably in his seat and then back to Jack again.

"I've no clue what Cub's doing. But we work in teams in the SAS, so it's never as dangerous." he answered, carefully. "What kind of assignments... does he get?"

"I'm sitting here, Wolf." Alex muttered quietly, but was ignored.

"I... I don't know. I'm not sure," Jack sighed, frowning again. "he won't tell me. And I'm not even sure if he's _allowed_ to," she threw Alex a worried yet clearly annoyed glance. "all I know is that he gets back bruised and cut up. Sometimes I can barely recognize him when he comes back!"

Now she was angry. But Jack was angry _for_ Alex, not _at_ him, which he appreciated, even though he thought that it was unnecessary.

"Jack, enough," the teen said, softly. "didn't I say that you're supposed to tell him what kind of a problem child I am?" he grinned. Jack couldn't help but grin back.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, forgot that, Alex." she chuckled lightly.

Wolf cleared his throat quietly, demanding, in a polite way, to know what the hell they were talking about.

"Well, I'll leave this to you _adults_. Got homework to do," Alex couldn't help but grin at that. It felt _wonderful_ to actually be back in school. "I trust you to work things out. Jack," he nodded at her. "Wo-- _Eric_."

"Cub." Wolf replied, with a hint of amusement glinting in his eyes.

Alex grinned and left for his room.

~~.._..~~

"_An _SAS agent_?"_ James exclaimed, incredulously. _"You're staying with an SAS agent? Those MI6 guys, what are they, stupid?"_

"Yeah. Probably," Alex sighed, but grinned slightly. "But that's really nothing new... and I kind of know him already..."

"_Oh, at the start of your training? One of _them_?" _James sounded faintly worried, but tried to hide it.

James was the one person who knew the most about Alex – more than Tom, even more than Jack – though he didn't know it all. But Alex trusted James very much; more than he'd ever like to admit.

Then again, if anyone heard that he confessed that, it'd be pretty dangerous anyway...

Anyway, since the two had met on Alex' second mission, the one at Point Blanc, Alex had visited James in Austria twice. The two were close friends (though James kept saying that they were something _more_, which the other teen stubbornly denied), and kept contact.

They called each other, almost every day – and if not that, they mailed. It was easy.

"Yes, one of _them_," Alex muttered. "The worst one. The leader, y'know... his name's Eric Damon."

"_Am I the only one thinking that his surname reminds of a certain evil creature...?"_ you could hear the grin in James' voice. Alex chuckled lightly.

"It was very hard to resist the urge to ask whether he'd changed his name from "demon" to "Damon" to make it sound more real." the spy explained, causing the other boy to laugh.

"_You surprise me, Alex!"_ James laughed again_. "I was sure you'd ask him that!"_

Both of them laughed. They talked for a good while – as they did so often. Mostly simply joking and telling each other about how their day had been, or discussing what they could do next time they met, or asked each other about "his life"; James wanted to get to know Alex as much as possible.

Alex was afraid that they'd eventually get tired of each other if they kept on like this, but James shrugged it off with "Get tired? Of _you_? Not in this lifetime, Alex".

Sometimes they talked about Point Blanc; discussions that mostly ended with either of the boys making fun of Dr Grief and/or Eva Stellenbosch, the other boy agreeing, laughing and helping with ridiculing the, in reality, wicked, twisted, sadistic adults that had been in charge of the school.

After about an hour, Jack knocked on his door and told him that Wolf was leaving and that if he didn't hang up now, their phone bill would be sky-high. Teasingly, she added that he was worse than a girl talking with her friend or her _boyfriend, _marking that word extra.

Alex glared at her, blushing ever so slightly (he really _was_ a teen, after all) and told James that he had to go. James, having heard what Jack said, snickered, amused.

They said goodbye, and Alex went down. Wolf was standing by the door, now wearing the dark, worn shoes and the brown jacket.

"So. You and Jack have discussed everything there's to know about me, then?" Alex raised an eyebrow and leaned against the wall. He could be confident now, he knew, while he was in his own house. But as soon as he was at Wolf's place, it'd be a lot harder to be as confident...

"Yeah," grunted the man. "Pretty much."

"So, tomorrow...?"

"I gave her the address. You'll know where to find me." Wolf _almost_ grinned. But instead of grinning, the corners of his mouth simply twitched, _implying_ that the man _could_ have grinned.

Alex nodded, keeping his face blank. He wouldn't trust this man so easily; though Wolf _did_ seem a whole lot less intimidating without his teammates or the uniform. Or the camp and the Sergeant. Really.

Jack, whom obviously had been waiting for the two males to give their "goodbyes", descended the stairs, smiling. Obviously pleased, thinking that maybe they _would_ get along, after all.

She said goodbye as well, along with "Thank you so much, Eric" and "I really appreciate that you're going to take care of Alex while I'm gone, Eric", et cetera, Eric, Eric.

Wolf, clearly embarrassed in this situation, merely muttered that it was fine, wished her a good trip and left.

And that was that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hm. I already have more chapters ready, so I figured I'd submit them as well... at least this one. I've got nothing better to do, but chew my nails into something unrecognizable, so what the heck :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider. There! Said it. **

**__________________________________________________**

Tom had been _overjoyed_, quite literally, when he'd heard about the person who was going to be Alex temporary caretaker.

"An _SAS agent_!?" he'd exclaimed, quite like James had, but apart from said boy, not as incredulously. He'd been _thrilled_. "You're gonna live with an SAS agent!?"

"Ssh!" Alex hissed, glaring warningly at his friend. "That is... a _secret_," he forced out the word. "And you're not even supposed to know about it. Not anything." he added.

"Oh... yeah. You're right, sorry, mate." Tom murmured, though it was clear that he enjoyed being a part of such a secret... secret. For him, all of this, all Alex had been through, was an adventure.

Of course Tom knew that Alex thoroughly _hated_ it, that he got hurt, both physically and mentally. But for Tom... it was different. Well, of _course_ it was,_ he_ wasn't the one going through it – but to him, it really sounded just like a movie. James Bond, but in real life.

Though he wasn't so stupid as to say that to Alex (even though Alex could see it).

"But... an SAS agent?" Tom repeated, in a whisper. "Then my guess was close, wasn't it? I thought it'd be a spy and it was an SAS agent... how cool is that!?" and once again, Alex was stuck listening to Tom's impressed blabber.

The day went by surprisingly fast; English, P.E, Chemistry, Geography... and so on.

Alex mind was elsewhere, though. He was thinking about Jack; where was she now? Had she left London yet? She must have... where was she going first? Hawaii, was it? And then home for a while, before flying to yet another place. Amsterdam, Alex recalled, and after that, she'd fly to France...

He sighed deeply. While Jack was flying around the world, he'd be stuck with Wolf.

_Why Wolf, of all people?_ Alex groaned mentally. _Even Mrs Jones would've been better_, he thought, thinking back at what he had thought the previous day.

Someone he knew, they'd said, but Alex had never expected it to be Wolf.

_We were never really friendly with each other, _he stated sourly, _and neither made much of a secret of it. So why the hell did they choose him...? Unless it really _was_ because he got hurt on some mission. I really haven't thought about that... couldn't spot any injuries. But it might be like mine, _Alex cursed himself for brining his shot wound up and tried to force the thought away again.

… _it might not be visible. At least not when you just look at him like that, _he finished.

The day went by surprisingly fast, and before he knew it, the teachers dismissed them and they could go home. Tom followed Alex back to the house in Chelsea, watched him pack and nearly followed him all the way to Wolf's place.

Alex had the address; it was an apartment a few blocks away from the Royal and General, which he pointed out dryly, mostly to himself, but loud enough for Tom to hear as well.

Though he regretted telling Tom that, the second later – the boy immediately begged Alex to show him around or at least enter, just to Tom could see for himself what it was like. He was _convinced_ it was a place full of silent men in dark suits and filled to the breadth with newly developed, secret technology.

Alex had sighed and rolled his eyes, but grinned slightly.

"You _do_understand that they're not being _that_ obvious, don't you?" he asked, grin widening.

"Of course!" Tom huffed, blushing ever so slightly. "I-I was just joking!" he defended himself bravely.

"Yeah, _sure_ you were, Tom." Alex nodded, now smirking.

"Bastard." the shorter boy muttered, throwing Alex a sideways glare, simply causing said boy to laugh.

That glare was _nothing_ compared to the glared he'd have to withstand, seeing as he was going to live with _Wolf._

When there was not more than a three-minute walk left, Alex told Tom that they'd better part ways here.

"You _don't_ want to meet him," he muttered. "He's... well... he's a nightmare. Sounds cliché and all that, but _really_. That man is _horrible_."

"He's an SAS agent," Tom replied wisely. "Of course he's mean! But I bet he's tough and brave, too--"

"_Tom_," the spy hissed. "I'm _not_ listening to you complementing him! Now leave, you."

"Aw, Alex!" Tom whined. But when he saw the look on his friends face, he sighed and held his hands up in mock surrender. "Okay, okay, I get it. I'll see you tomorrow, mate."

"Yeah," Alex nodded, smiling. Once again basking in the freedom of not having to care about _anything_ that had to do with MI6 or lethal missions. "See you tomorrow, Tom."

Tom grinned and waved lazily with one hand, before he simply turned around and walked back, along the way that they'd been coming from. He'd followed Alex for the heck of it. For Alex company, seeing as said boy rarely was there, anyway. But Tom didn't tell Alex that.

The teen sighed deeply and watched Tom's back disappear at the next turn, before he continued, a little reluctantly, toward his destination.

Wold lived in a modern apartment building, on the fourth floor.

Alex rang the bell hesitatingly, bag resting at his feet. He didn't bring much; clothes, a couple of books, a photograph or two and some of the gadgets Smithers had allowed him to keep after the missions.

If Alex needed more stuff, he cold simply go home and get whatever he needed. It really wasn't harder than that.

Wolf opened the door a couple of seconds later, outright glaring while wearing an apron.

"Cub." he greeted, the glare softening ever so slightly. One could only see the change if you looked really closely and attentively – both of which Alex did.

"Wolf," the spy replied blankly. "do you always greet your guests like that?"

"Like what?" the man asked, almost suspiciously.

"With an angry face." Alex shrugged, resisting the urge to grin or smirk. "You know what they say about first impressions..." his voice trailed off, as Wolf upgraded his glare.

If looks could kill, Wolf would probably have killed off half England by now. Or more. And Alex would definitely have been very, very _dead_.

Eventually Wolf moved away to let Alex through. He, too, seemed a little hesitant; apparently he wasn't used to guests, or other people in general – maybe except his own unit, though – and that made it all a little awkward.

Wolf led Alex through the apartment; it was... nice. Clean, tidy, modern. But it was so _plain_ – there was a couple of photos here and there, mostly on what the teen assumed was Wolf's family; they all had dark hair, similar features, and, surprisingly, a photo of K-Unit hanging on the wall, by a flat screen TV. Alex hadn't thought that this man would actually bother to have a photo of his teammates. Or actually put it on the wall.

It was quite a big apartment; with a living room, kitchen, bathroom, two bedrooms and a small room for random, remaining stuff that didn't belong anywhere.

Wolf showed Alex the room he'd be sleeping in, before grunting a restless excuse and leaving again.

Probably to the kitchen, seeing as he'd been wearing an apron.

_Wolf. In an apron_, Alex thought, rather amused, as he started to unpack his things_, that's a thing I never expected to ever see._

He put his clothes in the small, white wardrobe and the books in the bookshelf, leaving two on the desk; one with plays by Shakespeare – he had to write an essay on one of those for next Tuesday – and some fantasy book Tom had lent him.

The teen placed the photo of Ian and Jack on his nightstand and the one on James and himself (for the time being in Amsterdam, Dieter somewhere in the background of the picture). There was a photograph with Tom and Colin, taken a few years back. That he placed beside the one with himself and James, also adding a small photo of himself and Jack. When he was nine years old.

It was embarrassing to have that kind of photo, and Alex didn't like showing it to anyone else – but then again, he didn't have a heart to just leave it back in the house in Chelsea. He couldn't do that, the memory was too dear, too precious.

After a few moments, Alex decided to lave "his" room to see what Wolf was doing. Well, apparently he was... cooking, but Alex couldn't quite imagine that the SAS agent was _good_ at it. He didn't seem like that kind of person, though he actually was smart enough to wear an apron.

But Wolf had seemed like he was in the middle of something, and it was too late for lunch but too early for dinner. Unless he started to prepare the dinner three hours before the dinner.

Alex's pace quickened and he was in the kitchen in no time. He stopped abruptly, staring at the scene in utter disbelief. And amusement.

Because it was very... entertaining?, to see Wolf – SAS, unit-leader, Wolf – wearing an apron, standing by the kitchen bench, surrounded by all sorts of ingredients and saucepans, glaring down on a book, which apparently held the recipe of whatever dish the man tried to do.

"Um... Wolf?" Alex asked carefully after a couple of seconds, seeing as the man hadn't noticed him.

The man spun around, still glaring (_for God's sake, does he _always_ look like that? _The teen thought, resisting the urge to raise an eyebrow), looking ready to throw a kitchen knife at Alex.

"Oh. Cub." Which seemed to be Wolf's trademark greeting. "What?"

"What what?" the spy asked, uncertain.

"You wanted something?" Wolf shrugged, holding one knife en each hand, definitely looking dangerous.

"No... I, I just wondered what you're doing..." Alex said, rather detachedly.

"Oh," the man shrugged again, the glare never really leaving his features, though if softened remarkably. "it's... um... the guys heard you'd be staying with me. Thought it'd be an ironic kind of reunion," he muttered, glaring hardening again, yet he looked mysteriously embarrassed. "so they're coming. Their idea, not mine." he grunted the last part, not really looking too happy about it.

Alex just stared at Wolf, a feeling as if Doom's Day was at the door.

"...wanted to have a surprise party," Wolf kept, muttering, almost as if for himself. "But I figured neither of us would be too happy 'bout that..."

"'They' as in the rest of... K-Unit?" Alex cut off, trying not to show hos this was affecting him. "As in... Eagle, Fox and Snake?"

"Yeah," muttered the man. "why?"

"No, just... I didn't think... they'd be happy to see me again?" it came out as a question, though it clearly was a mere statement.

"What?" Wolf, who'd turned his glaring gaze back to the book, looked up at the teen, glare softening a little again. "Oh, no. No. As Eagle put it, they're really happy to get to see you again..."

_Oh, God, _Alex thought, rather desperately. _Jack, where are you?_


	3. Chapter 3

**...what the heck, I've got this chapter ready too. Why not upload it now? xD**

**I'm currently writing the next chapter. Might be done today, otherwise it'll be tomorrow.**

**WOW, I've already got reviews! :D THANK YOU!! :) You're the ones making stay up a little-very-too late so worth it x3**

**Disclaimer: … Alex would've probably been gay with James, if he was mine.**

Shortly after his... well, not exciting, but... profitable?, talk with Wolf, Alex had hurried back to his room, calling James. He had to talk to _someone_ about it, if he didn't want to get beaten into a pulp for one too many sarcastic remarks, which he had, in some miraculous way, managed to keep inside.

James had laughed for several minutes, when he'd heard the panicking tone that Alex voice held.

While it was comforting to hear that familiar, resounding, laugh, it was rather annoying to be laughed at in this situation. After all, _James_ hadn't been the one experiencing eleven days in Hell with these men.

"_Aw, c'mon, Al, how bad can it be? If they wanna see you, they can't possibly do it just to keep turning your life into a hell. Maybe they want to try to make up for it?" _James suggested, when he'd finally calmed down.

"As if." the spy muttered. "You haven't met them, you don't know what they're like. I'm going to die, James, and you're not even worrying! _Alas_, this unjust!"

"_Wow. You've been reading Shakespeare again, haven't you?_" the other boy asked, in mock awe.

"Bastard." Alex replied, but without heat. "I'm going to hang up on you now, James, and you've got no one to blame but yourself," he tried to stay serious. "and Wolf, or should I say _Eric_, probably needs my help in the kitchen. I think he's going to kill whatever it is he's making... well, kill it even more, since it's presumably dead already..."

"_What are you talking about now, Alex? You lost me when you said your SAS agent of a caretaker is trying to cook. Food. In a kitchen. _Without_ a gun." _

"Stop it, you're sounding like Tom..." the teen sighed and let a hand go through his hair. He realized his mistake too late.

"_Tom? Tom who? Who're you comparing me with?"_ James exclaimed, immediately. Clearly suspicious.

"God, grow _up_, James," Alex shook his head and rolled his eyes, even though his friend couldn't see it. "Well, I gotta go now. Talk to you later."

"_Alex!--"_

"Bye, James." and he hung up.

~~.._..~~

Alex had slowly, but surely enough, walked back to the kitchen again, asking supposed-to-be casual questions about the dish Wolf was preparing; what it was supposed to be, if Wolf was an experienced cook and knew what he was doing, if it'd actually would end up edible... but in other words, though.

The man had replied that he rarely cooked, but knew how he was supposed to do it. In theory.

But to know in theory and to know how to actually do it, practically... was two different things.

After ten minutes, Alex had managed to talk Wolf out of cooking and letting him do it. Alex had a feeling his food was a little more reliable.

The man had been very hesitant, at first; how could a fourteen-year-old possibly know how to cook? Edible food, that wasn't just the variant you put in the microwave or boiled? But as Alex picked up where Wolf had left, he became more and more sure of that the teen was perfectly aware of what he was doing.

Alex was quite content, busying himself with making a dinner – cutlets and potatoes with some sauce, pretty simple, really – and not having to worry about anything else for the time being.

Wolf watched the whole time, asking questions every now and then; sometimes about the food, sometimes about the teens "job". A wide extent of questions, really.

Alex did his best to answer them, sometimes with halfhearted lies, sometimes with near-truths. Unless it was about the food, though.

This went much better than he'd predicted; Wolf wasn't as bad as he'd been at Brecon Beacons, but then again, Alex didn't really expect the man to be in SAS-bastard-mode all the time. Of _course_ had had an actual personality as well... it seemed.

The teen found himself feeling stupid for assuming that the entire K-Unit were bastards, heart and soul. They had personalities, lives outside of that hellish camp; it was probably the camp making them, at least a little, like that.

_Wow. Then the sergeant must be permanently damaged, _Alex stated for himself.

The spy managed to convince himself – more or less – that this wasn't going to be as bad as he had originally thought. He wasn't not going to trust these men, not entirely, not in this lifetime, but maybe, _maybe_ he'd manage to get along with them, just for a short while. During the dinner, then he could run to his room and wait for James to call. Because _he_, Alex, couldn't call again. No way.

Firstly, it was going to show itself on the bill – a phone call to Austria that lasted for a good while, was not cheap. Plus, he'd seem desperate if he'd call James _again_ today, seeing as they'd already talked more than usual. But Alex _needed_ the support (though he'd never admit that aloud) and James... James was, well, James. Good, old, reliable, James. A bit of a sci-fi geek, but funny and comfortable to be around nonetheless. Nice to talk to, though he tried to (mock) flirt with Alex a little too often. Nowadays.

But James was... familiar. Familiar was good, it was reliable and comfortable. It put Alex at ease.

"...on an ironing board?"

"Huh?" Alex spun around, his gaze landing on Wolf. He hadn't been listening at all. "Beg your pardon?"

The man cleared his throat, looking slightly uneasy.

"When we met you, while you were on an... assignment," he glared again. "you snowboarded down a mountain," it wasn't a question, it was a statement. "on an _ironing board_."

"Oh. That." Alex had to complement himself for the very intelligent reply.

"Thought I'd ask... Martin'll probably ask, too..." Wolf added with a light shrug. But he was still looking a little angry. That glare never seemed to leave his face, and for a moment, Alex considered telling the man that the glare would stuck if he kept like that. But the teen decided against it, not wanting to defy the maybe-safe-future he had here.

"Martin?" Alex asked slowly.

"Hm? Oh," Wolf realized the teen had no idea who here was taking about. "Martin's... Eagle's real name."

"I... see." the spy softened his features, trying to flatten out the taken-aback look he'd had only moments ago.

Wolf raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

Alex turned back to the meal he was preparing; it was practically done, so he left it in the oven, in low temperature, so that they wouldn't have to heat it up later. Automatically, he started to wash the dishes, not noticing the surprised look Wolf was giving him.

"So, this caretaker of yours," the man started, once again. Alex knew that Wolf wasn't a very talkative man and was shocked, slightly surprised, that the man hadn't stopped trying to start conversations yet. "she seems... nice,--"

"Hit on her, and I'll hit you." the teen cut off, eyes narrowed. Though the SAS agent couldn't see that, seeing as Alex had his back to him.

Wolf's eyebrows shot up in shock. Then the shock turned into amusement.

"Then I won't do that," the man assured Alex. "I was just going to ask for long she's worked at your house."

"Oh," the spy relaxed noticeably. "okay. Well, Jack's been with us-- me, since I was seven. Ish."

Wolf nodded, slowly. He was glad the teen couldn't see his facial expression; because, even though it didn't show that clearly, Wolf was quite uncomfortable in this situation. He didn't know how to talk and deal with a _kid_, no matter how great of a spy that certain kid was.

"She taught you how to cook...?"

"Yeah, but Ian, my uncle, also taught me a bit. Mostly the basics, though." Alex didn't notice his voice turning bitter at the mentioning of his uncle. Of course he _missed_ the man, terribly much, at times, but at the same time, it was hard to think back on their time together without feeling betrayed.

Wolf was well aware of the change of mood and frowned, glaring slightly again.

"Where's your uncle now? Shouldn't you live with him?" the man asked, confused.

"He... died. A while ago." the teen sighed and shrugged lightly, ignoring the pain the memories brought. He pushed them away, back to the back of his mind again, where they could damn well stay.

"I'm... I'm sorry." Wolf exclaimed, taken aback. Though he had only murmured, none of the shock actually audible. Unless you were trained to hear such things, like Alex was.

"It's fine." the spy muttered, quietly.

Wolf opened his mouth to argue, but decided against it. He did that several times, making a fine imitation of a fish.

Alex finished the washing and sat down at the table, not sure of what to do. He intertwined his fingers, staring at them intently.

"So... um..." he started, lamely. He wasn't that great of a converser either. "How'd you... y'know, get hurt?"

"Mission." grunted the man.

"O...kay..." the teen nodded, slowly. "Can you tell me what _kind _of a mission it was...?"

"Confidential. Sorry." Wolf glared away.

"Maybe we should start calling each other by name...?" Alex suggested, after a while. "Even if just code names. Only 'you' all the time makes a discussion kind of lame."

The man's lips twitched, yet again implying that the man _could _have grinned, or at least attempted one.

"Okay, then, Cub – or is Alex better?" Wolf raised his eyebrow. "Or would you prefer Double O' Nothing?"

"Alex is just fine, _Eric_." the teen flashed him a wide, maybe a little grim, smile. "Or would you prefer 'Wolf', o, great unit leader?"

"Eric's just fine." muttered sourly, repeating Alex's previous words. But he didn't look all that comfortable with having Alex – Cub – saying his "real" name, though.

"Then Wolf it is." the teen muttered, grinning _slightly_.

This time, neither could find anything to say to fill the silence, but Alex couldn't help but think they'd done a good job. Because neither him or Wolf were great talkers, and to have held some sort of conversation alive for so long, was good.

He looked up, at his temporary caretaker, catching the look in said man's eyes. Wolf agreed with him, not only with the fact that they'd been talking for so long, but also a second thing – "_let's not stretch it_", and with that unsaid agreement clear, Alex once again left for "his" room.

~~.._..~~

About forty five minutes later, which during Alex had done nothing but studied, he heard the doorbell ring. The teen decided to stay put and wait for someone to call for him – if he was lucky, they would forget him until it was time for dinner, and with that thought, he turned back to the tricky algebra. While he didn't have too many difficulties with mathematics in general, this particular little... case? Gave him quite a task.

He was seconds from actually solving it, so, _so_ close – Alex had so caught up in it he had forgotten about their guests – when these guests in question decided to visit him. Without knocking, giving the spy no warning whatsoever.

"Wow! It really _is_ Cub!"

Alex was startled, dropping his pen and forgetting the solution for the problem. Realizing this, he became very annoyed.

"No, it's his mysterious twin brother, _Kid._" the teen muttered, turning around so that he faced the K-Unit.

It was Eagle who had spoken, looking the same as ever; minus the uniform, though. And the camp, and that scary facial expression he had always had.

"How are you, Cub?" Eagle grinned widely and walked up to Alex, yanking said boy up from his chair and flung a nonchalant around his shoulder, quickly in an almost-hug. "Snowboarded down any mountains lately? On an ironing board, perhaps?"

Wolf, whom, along with his unit had entered the room, threw Alex a knowing glance, somewhat amused.

"Just because I've done it once, it doesn't mean I have to do it several times." the teen pointed out and shook his head. He collected his things and piled them up, very aware of that K-Unit watched his every move. Alex felt ridiculously self-conscious.

"Am I _that_ interesting...?" he muttered, raising an eyebrow as he turned back to face his company.

"You look... a lot better than when we last saw you." Snake pointed out, softly, a faint trace of concern coloring his voice. If you listened closely.

"Lucky me." Alex, once again, raised an eyebrow. "If I _didn't_, then I'd get worried..."

The bell rang again; surprising Alex. The teen had assumed only Eagle and Snake would come, seeing as Fox wasn't a real member of K-Unit any longer and he didn't know the replacement.

Wolf got the door, but was followed by Snake. As Alex made a move to leave his room as well, Eagle flung an arm around his shoulder, grinning widely and started to chat about some nonsense and left alongside him.

As they entered the hall, the door was opened, and the teen viewed a familiar face.

"Ben!" he couldn't help but grin, even though it was only a slight grin. Because, as mentioned previously, familiar was good.

"Alex." the man replied, grinning, too.

"...you know each other?" Eagle, along with Snake and Wolf, stared from the teen to the newly arrived man.

Alas, this... confusion.


	4. Chapter 4

**Wow. I'm going to die. You're killing me. Seriously xD Thank you so much for your reviews! I've had so many already! xO THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU! :D**

**Aanyway :) Should I make the chapters longer? Would that be okay...? xD because when the chapter's end, I've just only begun. But it's pretty much up to you, whether you want it to remain like this or not. And again, thank you :D**

**Disclaimer: (: .Rider Alex own not do I**

**_______________________________________________ **

Wolf glared from one person to another, confused, but refusing to admit so.

Eagle was openly confused, wondering how Alex knew Fox's name and vice versa.

Snake simply put two and two together, finding it rather obvious how the two knew each other.

Fox was grinning. That much was clear.

And finally, Alex, he just sighed, a hint of the previous grin still glinting in his eyes. Though it bewildered him rather much that Ben – Fox – hadn't told the rest of the unit that they'd met. He had assumed that he would go "Oh, by the way, I met our darling Cub on a mission, getting shot on the coup, though" or something. But apparently he hadn't.

"We've... met." Alex explained after a while, vaguely.

"No shit?" Wolf directed his fearful, impressive, glare at the teen.

"It was during a mission, so it's confidential, anyway." Fox shrugged it off easily. "What is that I smell? Who's cooked?"

"Please, don't tell me that you tried something harder than instant noodles, Eric..." Eagle said, grinning, though he _did_ look a little anxious.

Wolf looked very offended, but shook his head all the same.

"No, Cub did it." making it sound like some sort of crime, _it wasn't me, it was _him_!_

That did remind Alex, though. Said boy hurried out to the kitchen and made sure the food wasn't burnt. Which it wasn't, thank God. It'd been a bit embarrassing to explain that...

The teen set the table, as the men stayed in the hall for a bit longer, talking a little among themselves. Obviously they hadn't met each other in a good while, like this, either.

When they entered the kitchen, Alex just put the food on the table, trying to find a way to call for them, tell them that the food was ready, without sounding too much like a housewife. But apparently, it solved itself.

Wolf looked impressed, when he saw the food at the table. He murmured something something about, that if he'd known that Cub was like this back at Brecon Beacons, he'd never been such a bastard. Yes, Wolf actually admitted it. But quietly.

"I think Cub was supposed to be born a woman." Eagle said, eyes wide, awe written all over is face.

Alex twitched. He took a deep breath, resisting the urge to take a frying pan and hit the man. In the head. Hard. Or just go Jackie Chan and kick Eagle to another continent. It was _very _tempting.

"I'd suggest you take that back, Martin..." Fox said, slowly, grinning. He knew what the teen was capable of.

"What--?" Eagle started, just as Alex decided it was not worth it to resist the urge (even though he knew, from experience, that Eagle could be a bad bastard if he wanted to), and smacked the man over the back of his head. He didn't use much force – he'd managed to restrain himself that much – but enough to make the other man curse. Eagle knew a couple of very colorful words.

"What did you do that for?" Martin whined.

Alex did not dignify that with a response, simply glaring at the man, a baby-version of Wolf's glare.

Snake shook his head and was the first one to sit down at the table, soon accompanied by the rest of K-Unit (including Fox) and Alex.

It was quite awkward, at first; they took food, poured themselves to drink. But then – what to talk about?

Alex, on his part, tried not to talk at all. Sure, he got along better than he'd thought with Wolf, Snake wasn't all that bad, Eagle could talk all night long without someone even replying, and he already knew Fox, more or less.

But the hardest part, was to figure out what he _could_ talk about. He knew that most were itching to ask about his missions, while Alex personally would simply prefer to only share that information with Ben, if he had to. Was he allowed to share info with someone who also was MI6...? Or was it entirely confidential?

Surprising them all, Wolf was the one to start talking.

"So, um, how's school, Cub-Alex...?"

"It's fine," Alex answered, slowly. "It's nice to be back. I've missed so much, due to my assignments..."

Fox opened his mouth to say something, but realized it was probably something he couldn't share with them all, and shut his mouth again.

"What about friends?" Snake asked, softly yet curiously. "What do they think about the periods when you're... gone?" the teen appreciated that the man didn't ask more about his missions.

"Most of the guys at school thinks that I do drugs," he shrugged. "so I don't have... many friends. But I've got some. Tom, for one..." his voice trailed off. There was a pause, where their chewing was the only sound.

"What about the guy you talked with on the phone?" Wolf lowered his hands, looking thoughtful. "Jack told me about him... James, was it? You seemed to get along well..."

Alex hated himself for blushing at that. He stared down at the plate, took a way-too-big bite, almost choking on it.

"Ye-Yeah... we get along just fine," he answered, avoiding eye contact. "but he lives in Austria, though."

"Austria?" Eagle echoed, incredulously. Alex nodded.

"His... um... father lives there..." he explained, uncertainly.

"How did you meet?" Wolf frowned. "Not on the net--?"

"No!" Alex interrupted. "We met... during an assignment..." he didn't know how much he could say about that, though. But then again, K-Unit had been there as well. "You've met him. It was at Point Blanc..."

"One of _those_ kids?" Eagle exclaimed.

"What possessed you to meet him again?" now Fox was frowning, "You told him who you were, didn't you? MI6 wouldn't have let you..."

"MI6 couldn't do anything about it," Alex grinned widely now. "Mr Sprintz asked for me, and they could do nothing about it, since he's such a eminent person and James really wanted to see me again."

Snake smiled at the teens enthusiasm, but was the only one. The others were quite bewildered, as to how to react to Alex acting like a teen. Or normal kid in general.

They didn't talk much after that – well, Eagle did, but he was the only one. He was happy as long as someone agreed or nodded every now and then.

~~.._..~~

Alex was the first one to leave the table, but he actually had a reason to; his phone was ringing.

To just see K-Unit's reaction as the phone rang, had been quite fun – Wolf had jumped off the chair, defenses up. Eagle saluted. Snake had been quite calm, but had watched the room with assessing eyes, alarm written all over his face. But Fox's reaction was the best one, though; he had grabbed the closest knives, jumped off the chair, made a somersault on the floor before once again rising, ready to kill.

Alex laughed as he crawled to his room, and giggling (though he would never admit that he was _giggling_, because it wasn't manly to _giggle_) as he answered.

It actually was Jack. Apparently, she had just landed in Hawaii and the first thing she'd done was call Alex.

The fact that he had been laughing as he picked up, reassured her a whole lot. In fact, Jack started to laugh as well, when she heard his _oh,_ so manly giggles.

"I wasn't giggling!" Alex tried to defend himself bravely. "I was... laughing in a high pitched voice!"

Which only made Jack laugh more. And Eagle – whom had decided to sneak on Alex – too.

Alex grunted that everything was fine, that he wasn't funny, wished her a good vacation and hung up. He smacked Eagle over the back of said man's head several times, as they went back to the others.

Eagle even earned a light punch on the arm – it was on a nerve, though, so it must have hurt quite a bit – when he retold the previous events for the K-Unit.

When they found it just as funny as Eagle and jack had, Alex glared at them all, gave them the excuse that he had school tomorrow and left. It wasn't fun being laughed at.

____________________________________________________

**...sorry. I know it's short, but next chapter will definitely be longer! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**I figured I'd upload another chapter as soon as possible, seeing as I probably won't have that much time during the week. Because this week is going to be hell for me :)**

**But I'll do my best! It's totally worth it, seeing as so many like it :D**

**By the way, I DO know that I'm rushing it a bit. Hm. But... too troublesome to rewrite, you know... -.-**

**Anyway. Thank you all :)**

Disclaimer: I wouldn't have to go to school if I was the author of the "real" Alex Rider books! xO

The first week went by fast. Very fast.

It had all been pretty simple; Alex woke up, ate breakfast with Wolf and went to school, where he met up with Tom. He spent the day mostly with Tom, slowly, slowly but surely gaining a little trust from his former friends, as well. He'd get home, eat something, do his homework. James would call or Alex would call James – either way, they'd speak for about an hour, take or give. After that, he'd prepare dinner. It'd start with a meal just for him and Wolf, but as Snake, Eagle and Fox dropped in one by one, between half past five and seven, Alex would end up cooking for all of them.

Of course there was a whole lot of things that happened in between. Nothing was ever sure, and every other day Wolf would work overtime – well, he didn't have much of a proper job for the time being, seeing as he was hurt. They gave him different assignments; sometimes it was just some small things, as driving a general or Sergeant from one place to another. Sometimes he'd have to sit in an office all day.

Those days, Wolf always came home grumpy and annoyed. He didn't like sitting still all day.

But then again, even though the man didn't like to admit it, he'd rather have it like this – different jobs every day – than just sitting in an office every day until his wound healed.

Alex liked it. Familiar was good. Though he'd rather shoot himself in the foot than admit to _anyone_ that he was fine with living with Wolf and having to deal with the rest of the K-Unit as well.

And he'd never thought he'd be... okay. Alex had expected to be treated as he had at Brecon Beacon, not only bu the unit, but... kind of living like that, as well. Training all the time, rising before the sun, eating only shitty food, that really couldn't quite be called food. At least not for humans.

Of course he felt rather silly for thinking that, now afterwards. But still.

However, when this first week had passed, it all started again. Monday morning, what a wonderful time of a wonderful day. How Alex loved to hear his alarm clock ringing, way too early in the morning. Not.

He did manage to get up, though. Even take a shower, before he went out to the kitchen and made coffee he knew he was going to need.

Alex had just poured coffee in two cups, as Wolf entered the kitchen. Swear to god, that man looked _dangerous_ this time of the day. The man sure as hell wasn't a morning person.

"Good morning, Wolf." the teen said supposed-to-be-cheerfully, though sarcasm dripped off every word.

The SAS agent grunted an annoyed response, grabbed the cup of coffee Alex was offering him and went to sit at the table, the teen joining him moments later.

Neither said anything for a while, though both thought along the same lines – _never invite Eagle to stay during the weekend again_. Because Eagle sure was an exhausting man, tiring the people in his surrounding not only mentally, but physically as well.

Ten minutes later, Alex got his bag and was putting on his shoes. Wolf watched him lazily, looking a little... friendlier now, after the coffee.

"Home?" he muttered, which Alex translated as "_Are you coming home after school today?"_.

He resisted the urge to point out that this wasn't _his_ home, and nodded. Wolf nodded, too, and watched as the teen as he left the apartment.

~~.._..~~

Alex rode his bike to the school. He absently noted that Tom wasn't waiting for at the bikes, but also told himself that he had arrived a couple of minutes later than usual, so they hadn't timed each other today.

The teen went to his locker, ignoring all the glares he received along the way. He was used to it by now. About as used as he was to have people whispering as soon as he had passed by them.

One thing Alex wasn't used to, though, was entering the classroom just to be greeted by a pack of classmates who were grinning/smiling smugly/slyly. With Tom in the front.

"What?" he asked, suspiciously, expecting the worst. The spy searched his mind, trying to find a reason as to why his classmates were looking like... this.

"Alex, you know about the Annual Festival, don't you?" to his surprise, it wasn't Tom who had spoken to him first, it was a boy named Stephen Smith.

"I've gone here just as long as you have," Alex pointed out, carefully. "so, yes."

"Then you can figure out that we're the class that's supposed to stand for the play/part, right?" a girl he recalled was named Jessica O'Donnell asked, her grin one of the widest.

"Yes..." he answered slowly, his mind trying to put two and two together.

"This year, we've decided to make a play with boys only," Jessica started. "the girls will do something else. Anyway, we're probably gonna go with Romeo and Juliet,"

"Just for the heck of it." another boy, Jonathan Carlson, cut in.

"And we figured you'd make a great Juliet." Stephen finished, grinning widely.

Though nothing could beat Tom's grin. Wide enough to fit a vocabulary, if you wanted to write on his teeth. Though that would be kind of stupid, now wouldn't it.

"You're kidding, aren't you?" it was practically a plea. Alex didn't want this to be true, they really _couldn't _be asking this of him.

"Nope! But honestly, mate, you'd do a wonderful Juliet! You're even a blond!" Tom said, as the teacher entered the classroom and they were forced to take their seats.

"Me being a blond has _nothing_ to do with it, Tom. There are more blond's in this class, apart from me." he hissed, through gritted teeth.

"But it'd be a great opportunity to win everyone's trust again, wouldn't it?" now that was a better argument, but still not enough.

"I wouldn't win anything but a pack of bullies on my back," Alex whispered, eyes set on the teacher, Mrs Steel. "and I'd _never_ hear the end of it."

"Aw, c'mon! You're used to being under cover, aren't you?" apparently, Tom thought that was the best argument ever, seeing as he was grinning widely. Alex was just about to reply, when Mrs Steel wouldn't have any of it any longer:

"Harris, Rider, shut _up_!"

Mrs Steel wasn't much of a lady. Not a polite, formal one, at least.

~~.._..~~

Half of his class kept on and on with that, all day. Alex had a sneaking suspicion Tom was the real drive behind it all, mostly because he would have _so_ much fun by seeing Alex in a dress.

He even suggested that he'd also have a play, a female part (Tom didn't want to be Romeo, what with the kissing scene...).

"C'mon! If you're Juliet, swear to god, I'll act as Ophelia!"

Alex raised an eyebrow, sighing.

"I hope you _do_ know that Juliet and Ophelia aren't even in the same play...?" when there was no response, he sighed once again, this time deeply irritated. How could one be so stupid? "_Hamlet, _and Ophelia, is one play, Tom, and _Romeo and Juliet_ another!"

"You're even into that shit!" Tom exclaimed, triumphantly. "You're practically made for this role, mate!"

"It's _common sense_, Tom..." Alex hissed, just as Coach Greene yelled at them to stop being lazy-asses and start running.

And so it kept. Tom, or another of Alex's classmates, would bring it up again, which almost always ended up with them being yelled at by some teacher. It was starting to really annoy Alex.

Around lunch, half the school had heard about it. And everyone thought it was just as fun.

Some people had bets; betting on whether Alex would do it or not. Most thought that no, he wouldn't, though they really hoped he would.

Other people tried to freaking _bribe _him into it. But Alex was determined; he would absolutely not play the part of Juliet. Not in a play. Not in a play that the whole school would see. Not in a play where families, parents, caretakers would be invited to see. _No_, he wouldn't do it.

The spy found himself _almost_ wishing that he'd get some sort of assignment that hindered him from even being at the school at that certain time. Anything would do, really.

Tom was still at it, as the two wen to the bikes at the end of the day.

"But you got to admit, Alex, it'd be hilarious." Tom nodded for himself, knowingly. "Honestly! No one would do the part better than you, mate! I can already see it," he started, dramatically, one hand clutching his chest, the other at his forehead.

Alex shook his head and sighed, unlocking his bike and walked with it, toward the gates.

"You, in a long, pink dress and a wig! With lots and lots of make-up!" the boy laughed smugly for himself. "And then, standing on some sort of balcony, saying in a girl voice; _Romeo, Romeo, where are you my __Romeo?_"

"You know, Tom, you'd do it much better than me," Alex grinned slightly. "And by the way, it's not how they say it. It's something along the lines of 'O, Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?'"

"See! You even know it, word by word!" Tom broke into laughter as they passed the gates. The spy shook his head and rubbed the bridge of his nose with one hand. After a weekend with Eagle, this was even _more_ tiring than it should have been...

"Alex!"

Both of the boys spun around at the calling, Tom's laughter having died down.

"Ja-James?" the taller of the two exclaimed, incredulously.

And sure enough, the tall, pale, dark-haired boy came up to them, grinning. Behind him was a long, black car and several bodyguards. James was grinning like never before.

"Alex! Long time no see!" he came up to them, barely paying any attention to Tom, instead concentrating solely on Alex.

Said boy was thoroughly shocked; James hadn't mentioned visiting and they hadn't agreed of anything like that. And Alex wasn't one to take in surprises fast or well, not when he wasn't on any "assignment".

James was still grinning, though. But he looked a little uncertain as of what to do. Normally, he would've hugged Alex. But he knew that the spy didn't like it that much, at least not when they had company, so he decided to simply give him a halfhearted hug, quickly and with just one arm.

Finally, Alex seemed to come back to his senses.

"You've grown again, haven't you?" he asked accusingly, still looking rather lost.

Tom just stared from Alex, to James, and then back to Alex again. And sure enough, the newly arrived boy was at least a head and a half taller than the spy.

"Or you've just shrunk, Al." James shrugged, patting Alex's head, earning a glare.

"And who are you...?" Tom asked, slowly. Not many dared to talk back to Alex.

"James. James Sprintz. Alex's best friend and soon-to-be--!" he was cut off, rather rudely, by the spy kicking him on the ankle. Hard.

"James. We're leaving." he muttered darkly. "See you tomorrow, Tom."

"Yeah... see you, tomorrow, mate..." the short boy replied, confusedly.

**__________________________________________  
… as I said, I'm rushing it a bit. Hm. -.-**


	6. Chapter 6

**Wow. You're ruining my plans. I love you xD My original plan was to just check if I'd gotten any mails... then I saw that I'd gotten a bunch of reviews... and here I am. God xD**

**My parents are returning from Amsterdam tonight, and seeing as I'm the "responsible" one of us (me and my four beloved siblings xD ), I have to be in charge of cleaning the house. Well, ordering the others to do it. Because it looks like hell, it really does -.-**

**WELL, where should I start? I might as well say that I'm not sure whether I'm gonna turn Alex gay or not. I'm not sure if it'll turn into a slash... but it might. And just 'cause it may not be a slash, it doesn't mean that James won't try to hit on Alex xD 'cause he definitely will. Just because I can.**

**But he'll have _some_ sort of relationship with James, yes. Because in my world, they're really close. Not lover-kind of close, but James knows about Alex's career but doesn't really have a part in it. So it must be quite comforting for Alex, right? That's at least how I see it.**

**By the way, about our beloved little spy being Juliet... what'd you think...? Should I may something out of it, or just leave it? xD **

**Either way, James _won't_ be playing the part of Romeo. Just so you know. He doesn't even go to that school. **

**And again, thank you! :D**

**Disclaimer: Not mine, sorry.**

Alex had been careful, _so very careful, _keeping the parts of his life apart.

Because who knew what would happen if they all came crashing together?

Jack meeting James had been bad, but not as bad as it could have been. Jack meeting Wolf was horrible – Alex really didn't want her to meet or see anything that had to do with his "other" life. And he didn't even want to _think_ about Tom meeting any...thing. Or anyone, that had something to do with his spy-life.

For example, a meeting between Tom and Alan Blunt wouldn't be too good, would it? Blunt was a calm and very collected (boring) man, but even _he_ wouldn't be able to deal with Tom and his thoughts and theories about MI6. Now Tom was a good friend of Alex's, but the spy had to admit that Tom wasn't always that bright.

Not that Eagle was very bright, either, but still...

And that was another issue. Alex wouldn't be able to handle it if James, or Tom for that matter, met the K-Unit. They'd be either scared/scarred half to death, or would _get _themselves killed, through managing to annoy the SAS agents (which that wasn't too hard). Plus K-Unit weren't... men who liked children. If they did, they would've gotten themselves other jobs, now wouldn't they?

Alex was just an exception, and of that, he was aware.

~~.._..~~

Alex looked to the right – nothing there. Alex looked to the left – nothing there. He looked up and he looked down, gaze locking on the kitchen window on the fourth floor – nothing there. He redid that a several times.

"Al, you've been playing the part of a very paranoid guy for long enough now," James murmured, carefully. "Could you please tell what you're doing now?"

Alex checked his watch. Wolf shouldn't be "home" yet, he'd probably work in at least another hour. But then again, the teen had no idea what Snake or Eagle did when they weren't in Iraq or Brecon Beacons, or something, and Fox was having a three-week-period off duty, and the three men always seemed to find away into Wolf's apartment, key or no key. Those sneaky bastards.

"Aaaaleeex..." the spy narrowed his eyes, doing his best to ignore James. "Aaaleex..."

Still no response. The dark-haired boy pouted.

"_Aleex... _Ale--"

"What!?" Alex snapped. James looked very pleased.

"Finally. Now, who was that guy you were talking to earlier...?" he turned slightly suspicious. The other teen shook his head, exasperated.

"That, _James_, was Tom." he muttered, before finally deeming it safe to leave the car. "C'mon."

"Where are we going?" the taller boy asked, briefly waving his bodyguards off and following Alex. "And if that's Tom, I don't think I'll have to worry..."

"Oh, but what if _I _think _he_'s hot?" the spy wondered, sarcasm dripping from each and every word, and though James heard, he immediately turned very... jealous. Alex cursed himself for even saying anything.

"I was _kidding_, James. God, you should be able to tell by now..." he held the door open for his friend, and after said boy had passed him, Alex entered as well. They walked the stairs in silence, the spy still having a hard time processing the fact that James was here. _Here_, with him, here, as not in far-off-Austria, here, as in... probably skipping school and running away, having a worried and probably angry father at home and rather reluctant, but dutiful, bodyguards waiting outside in a "borrowed" car. Hm.

Alex unlocked the apartment and put a finger to his lips, signaling for James to be quiet. He sneaked on his tip-toes inside, eyes sweeping over every inch of the apartment.

No one there, great. He breathed out a sigh of relief and grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry for that," the teen started. "but I'm not in the mood of having to deal with... well, _any_ SAS agent." Alex shook his head at his own words and went to his room, placing the bag on the floor by the desk.

"Don't you wanna introduce me? Might as well do it now and have it over with," James grinned widely, obviously having got over Alex's earlier "joke". "You know, then you won't have to do it in the future...--"

"I'm gonna change," the spy cut off. "And you're staying here. If anyone comes home, hide in the closet over there." he pointed at the random-left-over room.

"Aw, I'd come out of the closet anytime for you, Alex."

Alex threw the door closed, muttering about perverts under his breath.

He changed from his school uniform into casual clothes – dark, baggy, jeans and a long-sleeved, bright blue shirt. He wasn't into modern clothing and neither did he have any particular 'style'. He couldn't afford to stand out, now could he.

Alex exited his room and couldn't help but grin at James. No matter how great a pervert he was, the dark-haired boy was still a precious friend. And the spy didn't have many of those.

Alex wrote a note to Wolf (or Snake or Eagle or Fox; whoever came first), saying that he was out and that there was food left from yesterday in the fridge and that they just had to heat it up. He added that he brought his phone along and that they could call him if they needed to. But also that he'd rather them just do that in case of emergency.

James found it very amusing, how much Alex seemed to care about K-Unit. The spy stubbornly denied it, saying he only did it because otherwise... they'd... not get worried, no, but they'd wonder where he were. Exactly.

They left the apartment again, Alex giving the driver directions to his house in Chelsea. James had never been there and had been whining about wanting to see Alex's room for ages. (Jack and James had met in Austria, when Dieter had invited her for dinner, insisting that it would only be good for the two of them to get to know each other, seeing as "their children" were such good friends).

They chatted lightly on the way there, avoiding the more major questions, such as why James was there to start with, for now. Alex figured they could spare those for later.

James did explain, though, that he actually had permission to be here.

"Sure, dad wasn't too happy about my... suggestion," he shrugged. "but it was either me leaving with permission or me leaving anyway, it was all up to him."

"Nice of you to give him such a fair choice." Alex stated lightly, nonchalantly yet there was a thread of annoyance, on Dieter's behalf, in his voice.

"I know," James replied flippantly, shrugging again. "well, he was nice enough, sending various _teachers_," he didn't look happy at all at that. James was still half bad-ass. "to help me with my _studies_ while I'm here. But they'll only be staying for the first week..."

"Wait," the spy interrupted, frowning, absently noting that they'd be at his place in about two minutes. "For how long are you staying here? I mean, I'm really glad you're here and don't look at me like that, I _am_ happy that you're here, but it's just – don't you have stuff to do over in Austria? Normal people don't just decide to take a random trip to the UK for fun, mid-term and all..."

"Never said I'm like 'normal people'," James grinned widely. "And I'd do anything for _you_--!"

"We're here." Alex cut off bitterly, just as the car stopped. He was out of it before his friend even had a chance to react.

The spy made a mental note not to ask James as for the reason why said boy was there; it was quite easy to figure out, wasn't it? He'd probably say that it was because he missed him, Alex.

And Alex himself felt very uneasy about it – he had no idea of how to really act. It'd been a while ago he'd since seen James face-to-face, and he definitely was worse now than back then. While he treasured and appreciated the other boy a whole lot, Alex wasn't sure to which extent or in what way he liked James. Brother, friend, he didn't like even thinking about it, _lover_?

But then again, it wasn't like Alex was... romantically experienced in any way, he hadn't had the time, so he couldn't tell what feelings meant what. Sure, he'd had something with Sabina, but that had been, at the very most, a tiny crush. Or confused sibling-feelings.

_This it the reason as to why it's good with breaks, _Alex mused, as he unlocked the door, _I get so confused. Heck, I can do a whole lot of horrible things during my missions, but nothing beats _this_._

James asked something and Alex pushed all the thoughts of his strange, rebelling emotions to the back of his mind. He could deal with them later.

… **did it turn out short again? Hm. Sorry -.- I'm kind of sort of in a hurry! xD **


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm not happy with the last chapter. Not at all, actually -.- I'll try to do it better this time. But then again, I was in a hurry last time, which I'm not now. Thank god.**

**Anyway... hm. This turned out way too serious, don't you think? I'll put K-Unit on it, right away xD**

**I have a feeling it'll be better as soon as they're back. It's so much fun writing about them, you should try (unless you already have x3 )**

**Well then. Let's begin.**

**Disclaimer: Nope. Alex Rider's not mine. Neither is Snake... or Fox ;_;**

"Wow, this is your room? It's comfy. It's like, you, but not you at the same time – get it? I mean, since you're a spy you can't possibly have too many things that could help your enemies, or something, but still, it's cool. And I, who know you, can totally tell it's your room."

James had been talking rubbish the last half hour, apparently extremely amazed by Alex's house, seeing as it was a normal house (more or less) and not some sort of palace, or at least mansion, like James' house was.

Because James had grown up in that house, rich and spoilt – well, except for the whole bad-ass deal. Not that being spoilt had anything to do with that, but still... back to the topic.

James had been talking absolute nonsense for the last half hour, probably knowing that it actually had a calming effect on Alex, even though the spy appeared irritated. But then again, it wasn't as calming as it usually was.

"Can you show me the rest of the house, too?" James asked excitedly, after looking through every photo album he could find. He'd had a wonderful time laughing at the picture of a grinning, eight-year-old Alex, dressed as an Indian, holding a bow and an arrow proudly, aiming at something above the photographer's head.

The spy happily complied; anything to make James leave the photo albums alone.

"This house is great!" the taller of the boys grinned wolfishly. "Really, it's _so_ cool!"

Alex resisted the urge to point out that it was only because James had never been to a "normal" house. Not that his, Alex's, was _normal_, seeing as Ian had lived in it, but still.

"Yeah, and you haven't even seen the washing machine yet!" he replied, in mock excitement. The spy couldn't stop that one.

"I'm being honest here, Al. And polite." James said, looking ever so slightly offended.

"Of course. Who said _I_ wasn't being serious?" the spy asked, dramatically. But when he saw the look James gave him, he shook his head and sighed. "Oh, sure, 'cause it's _so_ polite laughing at your host."

"_Anyone _would've laughed at those pictures, Al," James stated, matter-of-factly. "You were so... excuse the girly cliché, _adorable_! And cute. Lovable. But adorable is probably the best word--"

Alex cut it short, smacking his taller friend over the back of said friend's head. He deserved it.

"You're so touchy." James muttered, stroking the area where the spy had struck him. It _hurt_.

"I am _not_ touchy, James." Alex hissed, voice dangerously calm. But when he realized that it only made it worse, he softened his features and sighed. "Forget it. Sorry. Wanna check out the attic? It's one of my favorite places..."

~~.._..~~

Alex returned to Wolf's flat a lot later; he'd stayed at his house longer than he'd planned to. But then again, he couldn't quite help it – as soon as he'd gotten used to the thought of James being here and sticking around for a while, it turned normal. Well, normal for Alex and James, like they were used to have it, their way of "normal".

To be honest, the teen was quite surprised Wolf had not called him; he hadn't explained where he was going to or exactly whom he was going to hang out with, and Wolf was a very cautious SAS agent. And if he hadn't called for his own sake, Alex suspected Snake would have talked Wolf into calling.

But no such call came, and he wasn't sure whether to be relieved or worried.

Then again, it surprised Alex that James hadn't started fussing over coming over, staying over at "Alex's house" or trying to convince the spy to sleep at the hotel, too. James had simply shrugged it off, though a smug grin made its way to his features as he explained that they "would have time to hang out a whole lot from now on" and that "there was no need to hurry". Kept saying that they had a whole lot of time on their backs.

Which, in itself, kind of unnerved Alex. How did James expect him to react to that...?

Anyway, the spy was on his way up the stairs, heading for Wolf's apartment. James had insisted on driving Alex home (the teen _still_ didn't like calling it his_ home_, because it wasn't actually _his_ home), but the teen had insisted on walking the last blocks. Didn't want to have to explain the luxurious car, in case anyone was looking out the window at the precise moment they arrived.

Alex put his ear to the the door, listening for any sounds. It was entirely quiet; Wolf had probably gone to bed, seeing as he went to work pretty early.

The teen searched his pockets for the keys and found them soon enough, unlocking the door as quietly as he could, sneaking in, concentrating on making as little noise as possible.

Alex had his back turned to the hall as he entered, trying to not shut the door loudly. He removed his shoes and kicked them aside carefully, as he started to unzip the jacket he had decided to bring along from home, and turned around. Someone turned the light on, with a _click _that was very audible in the otherwise quiet apartment.

Alex stopped in the middle of a step, freezing in shock.

In front of him was K-Unit. Eyebrows raised, arms crossed, eyes narrowed, frowning, glaring.

Damn, they looked dangerous again.

"Um... hi?" Alex tried, hesitatingly. There was no response. "Nice to, um, see you too..." He removed his jacket and hung it on a hook. "Did I do something...?"

"Where have you been?" Wolf asked, glaring. Always glaring, that man.

"At a friend's house. Didn't you find my note? I was sure you'd get--"

"Which friend?" Eagle asked, eye narrowed. "It wasn't that _Tom_ _guy_. Snake saw him at the grocery store. And you weren't with him."

Alex decided not to ask how they even knew how Tom looked to start with.

"And you were away for a long time." Snake stated, calmer than the others. But he didn't look happy either.

"Wolf said you'd said you'd come home today." Fox added. And once again Alex tried _not to point out_ that this wasn't _his_ home to start with. It was getting harder every time, to resist the urge.

"We decided it rather... suddenly," Alex said, mentally noting that their eyes followed his every move. Wow. Looked pretty silly. "and I _did_ leave a note. You could've just called, too, if you wanted to know where I was..."

"You said you'd come straight here after school." Wolf grunted, glaring. No surprise there.

"Figured you might've met some old... enemies and got coerced into leaving with them..." Fox explained,

frowning slightly.

"You didn't make us dinner, o, sacred-but-secret-housewife." Eagle blurted out, looking hurt.

"We were worried, you don't usually hang out with friends, and certainly not this randomly..." Snake tried, carefully.

And they all said that, _at the same time. _

Alex could just barely make out what each one of them had said. His instinct told him to hurt Eagle.

"Sacred but secret—_what_?" Snake exclaimed, incredulously and Fox burst into laughter.

The spy took a deep breath, clenching and unclenching his fists. _What was it _with people _wanting to make him seem like a_ _woman_!?

"I think you should watch out, Martin," Wolf grinned slightly. He could guess what was coming. "Cub looks dangerous."

And right he was, this time. Alex lunged at Eagle; still, he was careful. He settled on simply punching the man, pretty lightly, on the chest, hitting the horrible nerve on the thigh that hurt like _hell, _and, of course, his trademark "smack over the back of his victim's head".

"Now that we have that all cleared up," Fox started. "you can answer the question. Who were you with?"

"A friend." Alex muttered, growing more and more irritated by the minute.

"Friend, girlfriend, boyfriend?"

"A friend, for god's sake! Why is it so interesting?" the teen glared at them all

"Until you tell us, Cub," Wolf started, slowly, threateningly. "you're _grounded_."

Alex stared at his temporary guardian and said man's three friends, in mute horror, disbelief written all over his face.

He was just about to argue, opening his mouth to voice exactly what he thought about this, but Wolf beat him to it;

"No discussion, Cub. You're grounded. Deal with it."

"Exactly. No more going out with _friends _without our permission," Eagle looked way too satisfied for his own good. "and you're going to have to cook for us _every single day_!"

Alex glared at the men again, playing the part of the misunderstood, moody and rebellious teenager perfectly, before stomping off to his room. Dramatic enough, wasn't it.

~~.._..~~

"It's your fault I'm bloody _grounded_." Alex accused, grimacing at the word "grounded". He had only been grounded once before, but without any real reasons – he and Ian had been away, on a _vacation_ in some country with a jungle – Alex seriously couldn't remember any longer – and they had been climbing rocks. By the time they came back, Alex had been all bruised and had a slight fracture in his left ankle. Jack had been furious, seeing Ian had not allowed her to call while they were gone, and she had had a bit of a fit when they came home.

She had grounded him, Alex, for a week – simply for making her worry so much, and had yelled at Ian for _hours, _throwing whatever she could find at him. During the entire week.

Ian had been nice; though he must have been quite awkward in that situation, he let her be mad. Once Jack had gotten it all out of her system – it did take her a while – everything was fine again. But Ian had had to promise not to "kidnap" Alex again, and return with him all beat up and exhausted.

"_What? Why?_" James asked, confused.

"Until I tell them who I've been with – which I won't – they're not going to let me out, but for school," Alex hissed. He was standing in a stall, speaking in a pay phone, on his way to school because Eagle, that bastard, had bounced into his room at four o'clock in the morning, taking his phone, claiming that he wasn't allowed to use it while he was grounded.

"and it's your fault," Alex kept. "because _you _wouldn't let me go back to Wolf's flat before half past ten in the evening, on a school night."

"_Why didn't you just tell them it was me?_" James asked, pout honestly _audible_ through the phone. "_I'm sure they'd understand and you wouldn't be grounded, which would – what'd do they say? – kill two birds with one stone!"_

"Oh, yeah, my Austrian friend just decided to randomly drop in when he thought fit." Alex kept his tone light and polite, but James knew him well enough to realize he was getting more irritated.

"_Why, tell them I'm your boyfriend, I'm sure they'll under--"_

"I gotta go to school and _you'll _have to be alone all day long. Maybe all week long, who knows," Alex cut off, sounding bored this time. But he clearly wasn't. "Bye, James." he hung up, his friends' protests still echoing in his ears.

The spy was entirely caught up in thoughts about James – how confusing and annoying and irritating and-and-and... he could be – as he cycled to school. It only took him a couple of minutes, seeing as he had already been halfway there when he'd stopped to call James. Figured it'd be safer to be out of sight from the apartment.

Of course, he was greeted by half of the student body yelling, calling him Juliet, most of them laughing and looking pleased. Well, he was quite positive it could have been worse.

… well, at least Alex _thought_ so, until he entered the classroom and was met by the sight of Tom, along with the rest of his class, jumping at him, some holding make-up, another holding a blond wig and Tom waving with a pink dress, laughing at the same time.

_Wow_, this was going to be a shitty day, all right.


	8. Chapter 8

Alex was having a bad day. Honestly, it was _horrible._

Not _and-here-MI6-comes-again_ kind of bad, but rather _sometimes_-_it_-_really_-_sucks_-_to_-_be_-_a_-_teenager_ kind of bad. Which, more or less, meant that it was a really bad time to be "fair haired" and somewhat good an actor. And, of course, it was a bad being friend with Tom Harris right now, as well, seeing as Tom Harris had an obsession with teenage spies who wore dresses.

A rather odd obsession, now wasn't it. Very... _special_.

Which was the reason as to why Alex was hiding in a closet at the moment. He'd somehow managed to fight off his class during their first lesson (with a little help from their teacher) and also had managed his second and third lesson of that day.

But not without having lipstick smeared all over his face and _eyeshadow_ on his _cheeks_, along with half of the blond wig stuck on the back of his uniform. They had bloody _glued_ it there.

In short, Alex was _not_ happy. Well, he was glad they hadn't managed to force him into the dress, but he still had Social Studies, English and Maths left. And then cycling _all the way _backto Wolf's flat.

He tried not to think about what would happen in someone actually was there when he came in, makeup all over his face, probably breathing heavily for hurrying like _hell_ and half a wig stuck on his back. Hm.

But that was later, Alex reminded himself stubbornly, he had other things to think about right now.

Like the fact that Tom had just figured out where he was yet _again, _and that he'd have to find a new hiding place now. Damn.

~~.._..~~

By the time the end of the day _finally_ arrived, Alex was not only having makeup all over his face and a half wig on his back, but _also _wore a half-torn, pink dress.

But since he had had to hurry all the time, running between classes and afterwards to the bike, he hadn't had time to remove the dress. Pink flashed everywhere, sun playing on it, making it even more visible.

Alex tried not to think about that.

He lost Stephen and Russell halfway "home", Tom cycling after him for a little bit longer, but eventually also deciding to keep tormenting Alex next day instead.

The spy was breathing a little heavily as he raced up the stairs to the apartment, wanting only to be sure that there was no one following him and to get the dress and makeup off.

He hardly payed the fact that the door was unlocked any thought, throwing it open and tossing his backpack aside, preparing for the race to the bathroom.

Alex cursed quietly for himself, kicking off the shoes, trying to move with the torn dress on. But it was a lot harder than it looked and slowed him down perceptibly. The spy fought the dress bravely, flailing his arms and kept cursing.

It wasn't until he looked up, Alex noticed that he had an audience, consisting of Eagle and Fox.

They just stared at him incredulously, yet both of the men were clearly amused. Well, Fox also had this clear _what-the-fuck_ kind of look.

"What the _hell_ are you wearing?" Fox asked, just as Eagle asked;

"What the hell are you _doing_?", yet neither made any move as to help the poor teenager in his... suffering.

Alex froze, eyes wide open, horror clear on his features. _Shit_, they saw him. Like _this_.

Apparently, Eagle thought this was funny, hilarious, seeing as he suddenly broke into laughter, doubling over and clutching his stomach. Fox just stared at the spy for a bit longer, before he, too, started to laugh.

Alex, only surprising the two men even more, flushed and stomped away, heading for the bathroom. He threw the door shut, muttering about how unfair life could be and how stupid military men could be. And his classmates were quite evil, as well.

But what he cursed most of all, as his bad luck, makeup that wouldn't go away and dresses that wouldn't come off.

~~.._..~~

"Oh, _Cu~ub_?" Eagle sang, happily.

"What?" Alex asked, suspiciously. He had his back to the other man; the teen was preparing the dinner, as promised.

"Won't you wear this?"

"I can't see what it is, Eagle." Alex pointed out, eyes fixed on the frying pan. "I'm busy."

Eagle pouted and went to stand beside the spy, holding up the garment he wanted the boy to wear. Alex glanced at it from the corner of his eyes, and, instinctively, lashed out and smacked Eagle over the head. It was becoming a bit of a habit.

"Ouch! What did you do that for?" the SAS agent pouted again, glaring halfheartedly at the teen. Alex decided that it wasn't worth an answer and simply threw a meaningful glare at the garment; a dress. Of course. But this time, it was a black maid-like dress with a white apron.

He didn't even want to know _where_ Eagle had gotten it from.

"But why not?" the man asked, tilting his head to the side. "You wore a dress _and_ makeup earlier today..."

"I didn't _want_ to!" Alex exclaimed, blushing again. But he forced the blush away immediately, hoping no one had seen, and turned back to the food. Couldn't afford to burn it.

"Then why...?"

"My business." he muttered angrily. He didn't need K-Unit knowing about the entire school wanting him to play the girl part in a play. God, they would never stop teasing him about that...

"Oh, defensive, are we?" Wolf, whom had come back from work only half an hour earlier, smirked. He had already heard, just as Snake had, about how... special, Alex had looked when coming home from school today.

"Do you have some secret boyfriend with strange fetishes?" Fox asked, looking seriously thoughtful.

_Count to ten, count to ten, _Alex told himself, taking a deep breath, his grip on the spatula(1) tightening. _One... two... three..._

"Was it that boyfriend you were with yesterday?" Snake, that bastard, asked as he also took part in the conversation.

_...four...five...six..._

"That would make sense," Fox agreed, grinning widely. "it explains why our little Alex is so _defensive_..."

_...freaking-seven...bloody-eight...fucking-nine..._

"Who would have thought that our little Cub already have a boyfriend?" Eagle sang, though grinning. "I'm so proud!"

Alex didn't reach ten. He was busy enough not lashing out or throwing frying pans and sauce pans at K-Unit. It was very hard.

But he did throw the flour at Wolf and two eggs at Eagle. Fox was standing close enough to them both, so he got struck too. But Snake, on the other hand, got away. But Alex could handle that. Snake wasn't as bad at the others.

The teen felt a _lot _better after going it. Wolf and Eagle, both of them usually all high and mighty, intimidating men covered in flour and eggs... plus Fox, being an MI6-superspy...

Alex wasn't the only one laughing. Snake was laughing, too, making fun of the men, saying that they looked like a big cake and that only the sugar and the topping was missing.

Eagle was embarrassed, but laughed all the same.

Fox just sighed, admitting that they deserved that, and joined in in the laughing. He was aware of that they must have looked pretty silly.

Wolf was pissed. _He _didn't like being humiliated and _especially_ not by a teen.

If it hadn't been for Alex still cooking, providing them with edible food, Wolf would have attacked. He did try, he lunged at him, but Eagle was too hungry to let that happen.

But Wolf swore to take revenge.

~~.._..~~

"Your first mission, was that the reason as to why you came to train with us?"

The question came suddenly, yet casually, just after Fox had asked Alex to pass the salt.

"Excuse me?" the spy asked, politely, looking from the food on his fork to Wolf, and then back to the fork again.

"You heard me. Answer the question." Wolf grunted, stuffing his mouth at the same time. The teen resisted the urge to shudder.

"Um, Ben...?" Alex tried.

"Yes, Alex?" Fox asked. Ignorant bastard.

"Isn't this kind of, you know, confidential information? I'm not allowed to say anything, am I?"

Ben continued staying quiet, staring at his food. Alex realized that the man must be interested as well, and therefore chose to not say anything. The actual K-Unit stared at the teen as if trying to read his thoughts.

It wouldn't surprise him if Eagle thought he could... well, anyway.

"Well... yes." the teen answered slowly, but didn't add anything. Maybe, if he didn't say anything after that, they would catch the underlying meaning.

But the spy had no such luck.

"What kind of a mission was that?" Snake wondered. "What did they have to send a _child_ to do...?" he frowned at his own words, not noticing Alex's scowl at the word _child_.

"What does it matter now, anyway?" the teen asked, off-handedly. "It's not like anything's going to change just because I tell you what I did at any of my missions. Won't do it undone, and I _really _don't need more people freaking about it..."

His words only made it worse. Wolf's glare grew even more fierce, Fox's face got strangely blank and Snake frowned. Eagle was eating, only listening to the conversation with one ear.

"Cub. Tell us." Wolf demanded, using his alpha-voice. Leader voice. The one he used when he commanded his unit.

"Look, it wasn't anything serious, I've had worse missions. I was sent to investigate a guy who tried to kill innocent people. I stopped him. End of story. Why am I even telling you this?" Alex sighed. "You know what? Just forget it. May I leave the table?"

"Why were you wearing a dress when you came home from school today?" Eagle asked. "Unless you tell us, we just might start think that you _have_ a boyfriend with strange fetishes." the man grinned as he saw the look of horror on the teenager's face. Alex slid back into the chair.

"It's... complicated."

"Then explain." Snake said, softly. Though the slight twitching of his lips, indicating a smirk, revealed how much he was really enjoying this. Even though Snake was the most adult one of the men here, he could be quite bad as well.

"Well," Alex started, reluctantly. Maybe if he told them, they'd understand. He hoped, in vain, for their sympathy and not for them to tease him. But there was a loud voice in head, practically screaming that he was _wrong_, that K-Unit never would be sympathetic. Especially not in that way. He couldn't really imagine they had any personal experiences to relate to.

"there's this... Annual Festival going on at school, and my class had the responsibility of the play... but they wanted it to be an all-boys play... It's _Romeo and Juliet_, by the way... and thought that I'd make a good Juliet. So half of the school has been chasing me around all day, trying to force me into woman's clothing." he took a deep breath, preparing for the reactions he would receive at that.

"They totally chose the right guy for the job." Eagle said, after a long, _long_ terrible silence.

If it hadn't been for the fact that it was Wolf's flat, Wolf's belongings, Wolf's china, Alex probably would have been throwing plates and glasses at Eagle right now. And spoons and forks and knives. Hell, _anything_ he could find.

"Good night."

And Alex made a very dramatic exit – he was aware of that, but hey, he was still a teen; he was _allowed_ to be dramatic at times like these – leaving the four men staring after him.

He heard them break into laughter out in the kitchen. Even Wolf laughed, loudly, matching the loud (inane) guffaws that Eagle gave.

Alex shook his head and closed the door. Let them have their fun; he was amused enough by the fact that neither of the four, grown men seemed to have a girlfriend or any real life outside Brecon Beacons and the only fun they had was teasing a fourteen-year-old they barely knew.

Plus the fact that none of them had noticed when he had led their questions about his missions elsewhere.

**(1) Oh, god, isn't there a better word than..._ spatula_? Since English isn't my native language and I'm not interested in food-related stuff, I had no idea what word to use. Spatula was the only word I found, and I can't say it's a... well... _nice_, word. It kind of sounds really weird xD **

**  
Btw it was ObsessivelyOdd who "gave me the idea" of K-Unit trying to figure out what Alex's been doing during his missions. I'm just getting started with that, though... just so you know xD **


	9. Chapter 9

**This didn't turn out too well, but my mind is kind of set on how... wonderful Ewan McGregor is, at the moment. No excuse, I know, but still...  
By the way, thanks for all the reviews and all! :D Yay :)**

**Disclaimer: The probability that I'd own Alex Rider, is about as probable as... me actually getting a good grade in math.**

**_____________________________________**

Alex woke up a little later than usual this wonderful Wednesday morning, which forced him to hurry a whole lot. He ate his breakfast while standing and burnt his tongue on the hot coffee.

His hair was just a big mess, the tie that went along with his uniform was gone. In his hurry, a button or three came off of the shirt, but he couldn't really bring himself to care right now. The last thing he needed was a detention for being late.

Wolf was just stumbling out of the shower as Alex rushed past him.

The teen put on his shoes in a hurry and flung his backpack over his shoulders, yelling a stressed "Bye!" before leaving the apartment.

~~.._..~~

Any police would probably have stopped Alex if they'd seen him – the speed he was riding in, even though it was just on his bike, couldn't possibly be legal. But it kept him from getting late, and than was all he cared about.

The spy was enormously relieved to find that no one was as on about the whole Romeo and Juliet deal today, though he could definitely tell Tom wasn't about to give up.

But neither was he. Alex was _not_ going to star as Juliet.

Maybe he could start a campaign, make people vote for Tom (_anyone_ would do, really) to be Juliet instead. As Alex hurriedly walked through the corridor, he met other students. Not that he talked to them, because they certainly didn't talk to him, but he did hear snippets of their conversations.

Most talked about the upcoming Festival, the latest movies, essays and homeworks, soccer, parties, guys, girls... what normal teenagers talked about.

"--and wouldn't he be cute as Juliet?" some girl he thought had a name that started with... maybe F-something, squealed happily.

"Oh, of course," another girl, tall, dark-haired. She definitely saw Alex and noticed that he was listening to them, as she answered; "That Alex Rider sure is God's gift to the gay men..."

The girls kept walking, the dark-haired girl (something along the lines of Molly, Polly, Ellie or Smelly, who knew) quite clearly pleased. Because Alex froze. And blinked, several times.

_Hell_, he was absolutely NOT playing Juliet in that _bloody_ play!

~~.._..~~

"Rider, would you please translate _"__Je __pense__, __donc __je __suis__"_?"

They were working about _Discourse in Method _– "a philosophical and mathematical treatise published by René Descartes", according to their book. Alex wasn't all that interested in it, but he listened and did his best anyway. His grades were poor enough as it was, without him slacking off.

"'_I think, therefore I am_'," the spy answered. "'_Cogito ergo sum'_, in Latin, sir."

The teacher, Mr Simmons, nodded. He was clearly pleased, especially since he was one of the teachers who didn't dislike Alex. One of those who, if anything, _wanted_ to believe that the teen had just been sick while he was gone.

Half an hour later, they were dismissed. Alex left the classroom, knowing that Tom would catch up with him within two minutes. And Tom was not one to disappoint, as he appeared moments later, grinning.

"Wow, you actually understood what he said, mate!" the shorter boy grinned. "I didn't get a thing. What was that Latin-thingy you said? I barely got what that Spanish sentence meant..."

"It was French, Tom, not Spanish." Alex stated, one eyebrow raised.

"Oh, right – that's totally what I meant! You get that, don't you? I'm not that stupid..." Tom laughed, a little embarrassedly. "Anyway. About the play--"

"I'm _not_ starring as Juliet, Tom." the spy cut off, as he unlocked his locker. "Another word, and I might just have to punch you." he smirked slightly as Tom automatically backed half a step.

"But, c'mon, Alex! It'd be the perfect opportunity for you to get to know everyone again!" he tried, leaning against the lockers beside Alex's. The spy raised an eyebrow again and Tom sighed.

"Okay, but can't you do it for my sake? Please?" he tried with _the_ puppy-eyes, but they did not work, for Alex the Brave looked away! Or something.

The teen shook his head and sighed. He wasn't going to put up with Tom, when said boy was like this; Alex wasn't going to play Juliet. And that was that.

They entered the cafeteria, and Tom excused himself for a couple of minutes. Alex got himself food and sat down at an empty table, poking halfheartedly at his food with the fork. He looked and caught sight of the girl from earlier – Molly-Polly-Ellie-Whatever-Smelly. He would call her that until he actually knew her name.

She saw him, as well; their eyes met, and Alex discreetly gestured for her to come over to his table. The girl looked slightly incredulous but curious nonetheless, so she walked through the cafeteria and sat down beside him, back to the actual table. She glanced at him, before staring out at the other students.

"Yes, Rider? Speak quickly. It's bad for my reputation to be around you." she said, sarcastically. A slight grin graced her lips.

"Oh, excuse me for being such a reputation-killer," Alex said, trying to look genuine. But he didn't succeed anymore than she succeeded in hiding the widening grin on her lips. "May I ask for your name?" he asked, mock-solemnly.

"Penny. Penny Moore." she answered, after a short silence.

"Great. Penny." Alex nodded. "Wanna help me start a campaign to make Tom star as Juliet instead? He'd make such a good female... short and all--"

"--which would make it easier to find a fitting Romeo." Penny finished. She was smirking slyly now. "What do I get out of it?"

"...you alone get the rights to write a report about it, for the school paper?" he tried, vaguely recalling that she was in it. Seeing that she was contemplating this while grinning (again), he hurried to add; "And a photo, of course. Tom and whoever will be Romeo, in their outfits. Makeup, dresses, tights and all..."

"Oh, dear Alex Rider, we have a deal!" Penny said, maliciously.

Alex grinned widely and stuck out his hand, which she shook. They decided to go in on details later, and Tom arrived just as Penny left. He looked after her, bewildered.

"What was that about?" the shorter boy asked, frowning slightly. "Did you actually ask her out, mate?"

"No," the spy shook his head slowly. "we just... talked."

"You? And Penny Moore?" Tom exclaimed, incredulously. "Did she ask if you're a druggy, or something?"

"Hm? No." Alex shrugged it off nonchalantly and led the conversation elsewhere.

Tom was going to suffer, too. Not yet, but he was going to suffer – because Penny and Alex together, would totally form the ultimate team to make him Juliet. Alex was sure of it.

~~.._..~~

"What was I supposed to do, then? The moron came up from behind while I had the ball, so of _course_ I tackled him!" Tom exclaimed, as he unlocked the lock to his bike. Alex was already done.

"Your so violent when you play soccer, Tom." the spy stated, grinning.

"Well, you're violent in general, so what does it matter if I... accidentally push someone during a game?" Tom said, flippantly, and shrugged. Alex was just about to reply, but someone else spoke before him.

"So the druggy's gonna play a princess, eh?"

Tom and Alex turned around at the same time, facing a little "gang" of boys. Three of them were from their class, the rest from other classes. The one who had spoken actually was one of their classmates, Keith Winston.

"No." Alex said, blankly, and made a move to turn back around again. He wasn't really in the mood to argue with immature, cocky boys. Tom realized that Alex wasn't planning on hanging around, and therefore also turned around.

But since the little gang was so very stupid, they hurried around to stand in front of the two boys.

"What? Afraid to admit that you're a sissy, Rider?" Keith asked, maliciously. "What does your gangster friends think of it, then, eh? Did they beat you up for being such a girl?"

"My imaginary friends can't really beat me..." Alex muttered and made an attempt to walk away. But Keith wouldn't let him.

"Cut it out, Keith," Tom said, carefully. He was a little more aware of how "known" this little gang was for bullying. "There's no point in this."

"You're free to leave, Harris! It's not you I'm talking to, it's Rider here." Keith smirked. "And unless you want to get involved in this as well, you better just leave right now."

Tom was about to say something really rash, something reckless – his temper was not the best, especially when it came to people bugging Alex – but the spy stopped him. He simply laid a hand on Tom's shoulder and shook his head.

"Apparently they have nothing better to do than annoy others," he shook his head again. "what kind of a life if that? Let's leave, Tom." and so he made his face through the little pack of boys, his friend following him faithfully.

As soon as they were out of reach for Keith and company, the shorter boy started to swear colorfully. And loudly. Alex could only chuckle fondly; yet he didn't like it one bit that Tom had to be dragged into this as well, because Tom had _nothing _to do with Alex's problems.

The shorer boy just went on and on about how Keith was going to try to fuck everything up for Alex now, said spy simply brushing it off with lame excuses. One of them being that he had been through a whole lot that was a lot worse. Tom tried not to pay that too much attention.

After around ten minutes or so (both of them had deliberately been walking a lot slower than usual), they parted ways, both of them aware that they were going to see each other tomorrow again, but sometimes it was just so nice to have that sort of entirely trouble free company – they had stopped talking about Keith and his threats rather quickly – and they were reluctant to leave. But they had no choice, so Tom left. Alex just kept walking straight ahead, too tired to talk or be social.

He nearly groaned when he realized there was a risk that Eagle was in Wolf's apartment. Eagle was tiring.

So were the rest of the K-Unit, but Eagle especially. Alex could deal with Wolf – though the man seemed angry all the time, he wasn't all that bad and really _was _caring and soft, if you searched thoroughly enough. Snake was fine – he was a little parental and got easily worried, but he was... amusing and easy to talk to.

Ben, Fox, was fine. They got along just fine, could speak about most things. Well, when the rest of the unit wasn't present, that is. But still.

Alex arrived at Wolf's apartment a few minutes later, dragging himself up the stairs and through the door. He only just acknowledged Eagle and Snake, kicked off the shoes and went to his room and collapsed on the bed.

"Are you okay, Cub?" Snake asked, barely audible worry tinting his voice.

"'m fine. Just tired..." he sighed deeply and closed his eyes momentarily. "Give me ten minutes and I'll be alive again."

"If you say so." Snake chuckled lightly, fondness radiating from him more than he'd ever like to admit, and closed the door carefully as he left the room.


	10. Chapter 10

**Wow, I'm tired. So very, thoroughly exhausted. And I've _still_ got two hours babysitting left. It's just by younger siblings, but tiring nonetheless. Plus working at a library is harder than you'd think...**

**But well, I've written another chapter anyway! Can't help it. Must do something, right? XD**

**Disclaimer: Eagle would have been acting like he does below at Brecon Beacons, too, if it were up to me. But it clearly isn't.**

**______________________________________________**

Twenty minutes later – ten minutes more than Alex had said, oh _no_ – the spy was up and in the kitchen. He was yawning repeatedly, though, and his hair looked like a mess again.

He vainly tried to flatten it out, letting his hand run through it over and over again, but to no avail.

Snake watched with amusement as Alex tried to collect himself, from his seat at the table. Eagle was in the living room, watching some old soap opera. That man loved anything that was (overly) dramatic.

"Wha'd'ya wanna eat?" Alex asked, tiredly. He had no idea why he was so tired; he usually was drained when he came home from school, but this was different. The teen was exhausted, without any special reason.

"Doesn't matter--" Snake started, but was cut off by the grown baby in the living room.

"PANCAKES!" Eagle shouted happily, clapping his hands. "Make us pancakes, Cub!"

"--whatever you feel like," Snake continued, ignoring his loud teammate. "Or do you want me to cook? You shouldn't have to supply us all with such fancy dinners every day..."

"PANCAKES! PANCAKES! PANCAKES!"

"No, it's fine, Snake, I'll cook... but what do you wanna eat? Is pasta ok--" Alex clenched his fist, doing his best to ignore Eagle. But it was hard.

"_PAAAANCAAAKES_!"

"Then pasta it is." Snake nodded, smiling slightly, as Eagle burst into the kitchen and threw himself at the teen, screaming "PANCAKES!" once again.

~~.._..~~

An hour later – it didn't take that long to actually cook, but getting Eagle to _back off_ did – the dinner was ready. Fox had also arrived and they were only waiting for Wolf, who had yet to come home. Snake and Alex set the table, Fox was just having fun at Eagle, whom was sulking since they weren't going to eat pancakes.

The doorbell rang and Snake, whom had joined Fox in teasing Eagle, asked Alex to please go open the door. They all assumed that it was Wolf, though they couldn't understand why he'd use the doorbell. But then again, it could probably be because he was either bored or simply had forgotten the keys (they were all rather paranoid men, they preferred to keep the door locked at most times).

So Alex wasn't quite prepared to meet James when he opened the door. James was grinning widely, holding out his arms, as if expecting a hug. He didn't receive one.

"What. Are. You. _Doing._ Here?" the spy hissed, slipping out the door and closing it quietly. It wasn't that he wasn't happy to see James – after all, said boy had come all the way here from bloody _Austria_, just to see him, Alex – but it felt quite risky, seeing as Fox, Snake _and_ Eagle were there. And Wolf could come home at any time, too.

"Great to see you too!" James exclaimed, looking rather offended. "Here I go out of my way just to come see you while you're grounded, and you don't even seem happy to see me..."

"It's not that," the spy sighed lightly, his features softening and resisting the urge to explain that half of the point with being grounded, was to not see any friends. Oh, well. . "I'm just... tired right now, and not really up to you meeting the _grand_ K-Unit..."

"Tired?" James frowned. "Why?"

"Can't we take this some other time? Wolf's bound to come home at any time now and the curious and paranoid bastards inside will wonder where I disappeared all of a sudden." Alex let a hand go through his hair.

"But – but, _Al_!" the taller boy whined, loudly. "We haven't seen each other since Monday and I'm getting bored with just bodyguards and overweight baldies as company!"

"It's your fault I got grounded to start with, James." Alex stated, matter-of-factly. "And you're gonna have to suffer just as much as I do. Do you realize how tiring it is to spend every day with overly paranoid-and-curious-and-annoying-and-overprotective-but-nice-but-annoying-_still_-SAS-agents?"

"No. No, I don't." the taller boy shook his head, frowning slightly. "I'm not used to hanging with SAS agents. Sorry."

"And you don't wanna! So please, leave now and I'll call you as soon as I get a chance to...--" the spy's voice trailed off, as he heard heavy steps stomping up the stairs. Damn. Wolf was on his way.

So he did the first thing that came to his mind; grabbed James' arm and opened the door, his plan being to lock James up in his, Alex's, room. But, unfortunately, the military men inside had started to wonder where the hell the teen had disappeared to, and were standing at the door, just about to open it themselves.

So, on one side, there was Wolf. On the other, were Snake, Fox and Eagle. _Bloody SAS agents everywhere!_

Alex was basically stuck between a rock and a hard place. Kind of.

~~.._..~~

Wolf glared at Alex. Wolf glared at James. Wolf glared at Alex again.

Eagle was just staring at James, his eyes wide, his mouth hanging open and forming a small o. He had heard of the Sprintz name. It amazed him how extremely rich the dark-haired teen in front of him really was.

Fox was frowning. He didn't like the fact that "_an unknown teenager_" was here, without invitation. He wasn't a man who was very fond of surprises. Oh, plus the fact that James was wearing a goofy grin and shot "meaningful glances" at Alex every now and then.

Snake wasn't as bad; he was just slightly bewildered by the fact that an Austrian boy was sitting in Wolf's kitchen, all of a sudden. But he did seem bothered by the way James stared at Alex.

There's no reason to explain that James was grinning as if there was no tomorrow, _again_, so... he was grinning. It was as simple as that.

Alex was shifting uncomfortably in his seat, letting a hand go through his hair and rubbing the bridge of his nose. It was at times like these he wished he could just go James Bond and disappear away with a helicopter through a window, if that was even James Bond, or anything at all to _get away_.

However, they had somehow managed to get through the dinner.

Without. Saying. A. _Word_.

The tension had grown insufferable, and you'd seriously be able to cut through the tension with a knife. Honestly. The tension was almost _visible_. Not that it _could_ be... but... still.

"You see," Alex muttered. "_this –_ is why I didn't want you to meet." _Mostly. And because K-Unit is partially MI6 and James is _not. _They're not _supposed _to meet...!_

"Now that you know who Al were with, is he still grounded?" James asked, happily, seemingly oblivious to the tension in the room. "Technically, he shouldn't be, right?" he asked, hopefully.

Alex kicked his leg under the table. James grimaced and stuck his tongue out at the spy, whom just shook his head. So James decided to struck back, but Alex simply caught his wrist and twisted it lightly, but enough to hurt, at least a little. The taller of the boys swore again and glared halfheartedly at his friend.

"Ignore him." Alex muttered.

"Are you rich?" Eagle asked, dumbly, still staring at James. Now it was Snake's turn to struck Eagle, instead. He used Alex trademark _"smack over the back of victim's head"_. Eagle seemed to suffer a lot of those lately.

"What kind of relationship do you have?" Wolf asked, suspiciously.

"You don't just drop by from Austria for nothing." Fox added, just as suspiciously.

"What were you doing during the Monday evening?"

"Are you some kind of _stalker_? Alex, does this kid stalk you?"

Alex groaned quietly. He would have banged his head in the table, if it wasn't for the fact that his plate was in the way. He would have moved it, too, if it wasn't for the fact that there were five other plates there, as well. And glasses and a saucepan and a jug of water. They definitely were too many at the table; just K-Unit and Alex were one or two too many, but with James as well...

"How close are you, _really_?" Wolf kept asking.

"Did he ever make you do uncomfortable things?" Fox pushed. By this, James had stopped pretending to be entirely oblivious.

"Hey! What the hell was that?" he asked, angrily. The spy feared what was coming. "Whatever Alex does, he does it because he _wants_ to, right, A--?"

Ah, there it was again! The _smack over the back of victim's head_!

"Don't listen to him. We're just friends." Alex sighed. He was so tired... "James hasn't seen the room I live in here. May I show it to him? Thanks." the teen stood up, brining his plate and placing it in the sink. "Are you coming, James?"

"Sorry, Al, but I'm busy." James said, dramatically.

"With what?"Alex, having his back toward his friend, rolled his eyes and turned around. His tall friend was kneeling on the floor, pretending to be looking for something on the floor, while (stupid, yes) having one hand over his forehead.

"Picking up the pieces of my broken heart!" the dark-haired boy sniffed, clutching his chest. "You thoughtlessly threw it away and it shattered! Here I am, picking up each and every piece so I can glue it together and give it to you all over again!"

Alex was already in his room by now. There was no way he was listening to James stupid "confession" _again_. But, if anything, K-Unit must've understood what kind of relationship James and Alex had now. A complicated-kind-of-hopeless-but-who-knows-what-might-happen one.


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry for the wait. I really can't remember when I uploaded last, my memory is kind of... really bad. Got it from my mum.  
WELL, here it is! Mostly a filler, though, nothing important. Can't say I'm pleased with this chapter -.-  
Thanks for all the reviews! :D It makes me so happy :) Keep it up. Knowing that people like this, makes me write even more! xD  
Feel free to come with any sort of advices or wishes, though. What do you want to happen? Should I follow the trend and revive Yassen Gregorovich? Should I force myself into throwing Sabina along?, etc. Well. On with the story :)  
Disclaimer: I can't believe DCI Bilborough died. How can they? TT-TT (By the way – I don't own Alex Rider).  
I SHOULD PROBABLY WARN YOU FOR THE LANGUAGE, TOO. KIND OF JUST REALIZED. (It's not that bad, but, you know, "hell" here and "bloody" there. And I kind of mention alcohol, too. Not that I think that'd actually hurt sensitive readers, but... just in case. Just so you know.)  
__________________________________________**

"Wow... they're not like I imagined, at all..." James murmured, as they entered Alex's room (he had agreed to stop crawling on the kitchen floor, eventually, and with a little persuasion). "...they're much cooler! So macho!"

"Of _course_ they are macho," Alex muttered. "What'd you expect? They're freaking _SAS_. _S_ick _A_nd _S_illy, honestly..."

They sat down on his bed. James crossed his legs, one hand on each knee, grinning. He started babbling about how this room resembled the one in Alex's "real" house – because even though they were different in size and shape, the furniture, the wallpaper, basically _everything_ was different – there was still something about the room (except for the photos) that said: _HERE LIVES ALEX RIDER, BEAT THAT_.

"Why are they so overprotective, anyway? It's not like I'm gonna molest you, or something..." James said, after observing and giving a remark on _everything_ in the room (including Alex. He had earned another smack over the back of his head, _but_, a muttered swearword and slip of Alex's "mask", too), sliding back to their earlier topic about the SAS men. And, technically, MI6 agent. But they mostly just called them "The SAS bastards" (Alex used that name the most, though), "The _grand_ K-Unit", or something along those lines.

"I mean," James continued. "you could totally protect yourself, so it's no use trying. Not that I _would_! But, y'know, if you ever decided to start acting like a normal teen and try drinking,_ I _would probably drink too, just so you won't feel lonely, and who knows, I might end up drunk and trying to, I don't know, ravage you." he shrugged. "But I don't quite think that'd happen. Not that I'd mind if you randomly decided to take a drink with me, but... yeah." the tall boy sighed. "One thing that would make me _really_ happy, was that if you drank and got wasted, _you'd_ maybe decide to hit on _me_. People do strange things when they're smashed..."

"Yeah, as if." Alex grinned slightly, though. He'd like to see James embarrass himself while drunk, but then again, he wouldn't risk it. "It's interesting how many words you know for _drunk_, though."

"What?" James laughed. "Drunk, smashed, pickled, wasted, boozy... the list is long."

The Austrian boy just opened his mouth to add something, when there was three rapid knocks on the door, before it was practically thrown open, four men stumbling in.

"Don't you encourage Cub to drink, _you_!" Wolf shouted, glaring and pointing at James. James actually flinched, trying to back away, into the wall.

"You're way too young to drink! Both of you!" Fox added. He and Wolf teamed up a lot, nowadays.

"It's not good to drink," Snake said, wisely, while making sure to clap a hand over Eagle's mouth, since said man would probably just state that he wanted to join them in their little drinking party. "_Especially_ at your age. And Alex here, is not allowed to drink, either way. Not only because he is too young (you're too young, too, James, remember that!), but also because he's employed and can't afford to get addicted or have any alcoholic problems..."

Alex rolled his eyes. Snake was such a mommy. Plus, he should have known that they'd stand and listen by the door, but he hadn't been bothered enough by it to actually do anything about it. The spy sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"I'm not gonna drink." he stated. "James' not going to drink as long as I'm here, so you can go now."

There was a short silence. K-Unit looked rather reluctant to leave.

"Told you, Al, they're _totally_ overprotective... they must love you very much." James said in a stage whisper, leaning toward the spy, whom (of some unknown reason) flushed at that.

Then again, as did the SAS men. And Wolf looked ready to kill (but, he always did...).

James burst into laughter. After that, everything happened at the same time; Wolf lunged at James, simply because he had been embarrassed and, as we all know, Wolf got angry very easily, and Snake let go off Eagle to try and stop Wolf. Fox realized that Snake alone wouldn't be able to hold back the humiliated unit leader, and jumped at them as well. The three men ended up on top of James, who, in turn, was lying on Alex, who was slowly and painfully being smothered and crushed under the weight. Eagle, happy to be free and very amused by the big heap of men and boys on the bed that would surely break in a matter of minutes, did the one thing that popped up in his childlike mind – launched for the top of the heap, sitting gracefully on Fox's back.

Alex groaned, wanting to cough, but unable to do so, because if he breathed out, he wouldn't be able to breath in as much oxygen again. The spy blamed his flushing face on the anger and lack of air (because he couldn't _possibly_ be blushing because _someone_ was _lying_ _on top _of him. No _bloody _way.) He cursed, quite much, kicking and writhing helplessly.

"Get _off_!" the teen hissed. "Get off! Get off me _now_!"

The extreme pressure this put on his chest, was, to say in the least, _not_ good or pleasurable in any way. And it hurt like hell; not that Alex would complain, not out loud, but it hurt remarkably much.

While James knew that the spy had gotten hurt during several missions and Ben certainly could (at least) guess, neither of them knew exactly _how_ badly he'd been hurt. For example, neither of them knew that Alex had been shot, and he preferred for it to stay that way. It would be so troublesome if they found out... certainly James. He'd freak right away. So Alex could just keep swearing and – he had a couple of difficulties yelling right now – hissing for the others to get off.

"Eagle, you idiot!" Wolf roared. He was getting seriously mad. "Get the bloody hell off!"

"We're going to crush Cub." Snake pointed out, impatiently. "Are you alright, Cub?" he added.

"Hey, you're crushing me too!"James choked out. He was also having serious difficulties breathing.

"Get _off _me, get off me _now_, get off me _already_!" Alex hissed.

"It's not gonna go any faster if you change the words in your sentences, Cub. We're just as stuck here as you are..." Fox pointed out. He was under Eagle, so he was probably the one best of. Except for Eagle himself, that is.

"You're not stuck under four grown men and a teenager!" the spy hissed.

Eagle rolled off the big heap, laughing all the while. But he didn't laugh as much when he had to help Fox off the royally pissed Wolf.

All Alex could do when he was finally freed, was to slowly, slowly sit up and take several deep breaths. His scar hurt and a greater part of his body was sore. Stupid SAS with bloody over muscled bodies. He then realized that he also had a friend here, that was a whole lot more vulnerable.

"Are you okay, James?" the spy asked quietly.

"Sure, I'm fine." James grunted, though he didn't quite look so. His back was slouched and he was grimacing as he stretched his arms and took deep breaths. "Your roommates are heavy, though."

"I know." Alex muttered, glaring at K-Unit, but none of the men noticed; they were all busy.

Wolf was angry, but that was only to expect. He was yelling at Eagle. Eagle was just staring at the floor and looking like a child who had done something he knew he should be ashamed of.

Fox was bending forward from the waste down, trying to stretch his back out. Yet he had almost been at the top, so he shouldn't complain. Snake was massaging his neck, looking irritated enough. He had been in the middle, over James and under Wolf. And – _damn the one who misinterpret_ – it was uncomfortable being under Wolf. Snake was having a hell of a time not flushing at the order of his thoughts, how simple words could get so wrong.

But that kind of inner turmoil did not show on his face. Fox and Eagle would tease (bully, really) him to no end if they ever heard that _he_, Snake, actually also was a normal man with hormones and thoughts that he couldn't control... though that did also come out quite wrong. Snake wasn't gay. And not for Wolf.

_However_.

"I'm totally right, though," James whispered, leaning closer to Alex. He didn't want to risk anyone overreacting and literally jumping on him again. "they seem really fond of you."

The spy was surprised by the genuine, if slight, smile that graced James' lip at that.

"It's 'cause I cook for them." Alex grumbled, looking away.

"Why is it so hard for you to believe it when people like you?" James asked, louder this time. He sighed, leaning back again. "You're such a lovable little... boy," (Alex seriously glared at his friend at this) "I don't understand your _xenophobia_(1) at all."

"Wow," Alex started, wide-eyed. "I didn't even know you knew such a complicated word! What did you do, open a dictionary and pick the first word on X that sounded smart?" This time, it was James turn to glare at the spy. He hugged his body and pouted.

"...yes." he muttered, grudgingly. Eagle snickered at this, but quieted down as fast as he caught sight Wolf's (worsening) glare again. He hurried out of the room, the leader of K-Unit right behind him.

"Don't you try and force yourself on our Cub." Fox said warningly, though grinning slightly and winked meaningfully at James, before turning to simply grin at Alex. Alex threw the first thing he could get – a book (a heavy one, too) – at Fox, ushering the agent out of the room.

Last to leave was Snake. He was still looking annoyed, but at the same time he had that mommy-look gracing his face.

"Play nice." he murmured. "And... sorry for the intrusion. I don't think they were born that way, their mothers must've dropped them when they were kids... those women _surely_ must have a _lot_ in common..." Snake continued, if only for himself, as he walked out of the room and shut the door on his way out.

~~.._..~~

James did leave that night, not being allowed to stay over. Wolf, well, probably Fox too (teaming up again, eh), wouldn't allow that. They were certain that the Austrian boy would try and molest poor Cub in his sleep, and therefore sent him home (...the hotel) at around nine o'clock, "sending" Alex to his bedroom to sleep as soon as James had left the building.

Snake wasn't as paranoid, though, and seemed pleased by the fact that Alex had such a good friend. Eagle was simply having the time of his life, entertaining the thought of Alex in a wedding dress. He could already imagine the two boys getting married, and stated, repeatedly, that the young spy would make the perfect housewife. But he stopped when Alex decided to upgrade his "_smack over the back of victims/Eagle's head_" to "_hit every nerve possible_", going for the thigh or the arm most of the time. A very vulnerable nerve, on the thigh, to say in the least (2).

Anyway, he did manage to talk them out of tucking him in and giving him a goodnight kiss. Alex would rather... stand on a rooftop and sing "My heart will go on" from the top of his lungs. The spy decided to settle on that, not wanting to daresay something that actually, really _and_ possibly could happen.

Better not defy fate. Too much.

**______________________________________________**

**(1) Xenophobia is, basically, fear of strangers, in case you didn't know that. I had no clue until I looked it up xD**

**(2) ** **Has anyone ever struck you on that horrible nerve in the thigh? Not? Well, it hurts like hell. Not only"ouch-that-hurt-!", momentarily, but rather "bloody-hell-that-hurt-why-won't-it-stop-after-fifteen-minutes-!?". My very mature friends love me xD **


	12. Chapter 12

**OH GOD! MY BAD! About the last chapter – the thing about "xenophobia"; it seems my not-so-reliable-source was, well, not to be trusted. It told _me_ that xenophobia means "fear of strangers", while I was explained by a much more trustworthy source – in fact, a living person – that it means, more or less, "fear of foreigners". Which is really not what I was meaning – Alex is not, in any way, a racist. Neither am I, mind you. Thank you, clemlimo, for pointing that out.**

**However! I'm sorry for the wait. But my older and one of my younger sisters, has re-discovered The Sims. And they use the same computer as I do – complications, complications.**

**PLUS, I got Necropolis a couple of days ago! :D Wonderful. Great. But (SPOILER, I SUPPOSE) I really disliked the way it ended. Getting shot like that (won't say the name, just in case)...  
Well. On with the story. Not really an important chapter, though.**

**Disclaimer: I'm thinking about making a PO5 fanfiction, screwing it up as much as possible; both Jamie and Scott likes Scarlett, Scarlett's in love Matt, but Matt's gay with Pedro, or something. Though I can't come up with a solution for that. Hm...  
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No matter how irritated Alex was with Tom, he was the first one (the second one would be Jack) who got to hear about the chaos at Wolf's flat. Alex explained how horrible it was, to have James and K-Unit clashing together, and how bad it would be in the future because there was no way to prevent James from crashing Wolf's flat everyday now.

"Wow, mate, I don't know how you do it, but no matter what you do, you always end up in... uncomfortable situations." Tom pointed out, very amused.

"Uncomfortable, you say?" the spy muttered. "I'd rather say _hellish_."

"Well – uncomfortable, hellish; same, same but different!" Tom laughed, happily though a little maliciously. Alex glared at him, resisting the urge to say that as soon as Tom found out that he would get the part of Juliet, he wouldn't be as happy. Then Alex would be the happy one. Oh, yes.

The thought of his friend, blushing on a stage, wearing a wig and a dress, was enough to bring the smile back to the spy's face. A rather evil one.

~~.._..~~

"So, we have a deal then, Rider?" Penny asked, voice only a whisper. They were standing at some board, pretending to look at notes and posters. They were going execute their plan quietly, starting off in the shadows. Kind of.

"Yeah." Alex nodded. "You go with reputations and how obvious it is that our victim stars as Juliet and I talk about how I've heard Tom saying that he wants to have the part of a girl. Because he has a dress-fetish."

"And then I get to write about the whole thing." Penny stated, smiling wickedly. "And get to take a _photo._"

They both knew that she was probably getting more out of it than he, Alex, did – bit Penny didn't want to risk losing anything she had and as long she and Alex got along and through with this, she couldn't be happier. A major article and awesome picture in the school paper, popularity, a chance to become the director next year, "fans" that would be _dying_ to hear how she, alone, got the rights to this... ah, bliss. And Alex? He wouldn't have to play the part of Juliet and he'd get to see his best friend in a dress. Not more than that.

Now little did Penny know, that Alex was more than just content with that.

~~.._..~~

When school was over that day, Alex decided to actually do something else than just go straight home and try to catch up on all the work he had missed; he called "home" (he still had a hard time admitting that Wolf's flat was, if temporarily, his _home_) and explained to Snake that he would be hanging out with Tom and some other guys for a while.

They played soccer – and Alex was sure he hadn't done something... that craved so little mind, in such a long time. It was wonderful, and he was basking in the glorious feeling of freedom, having, if little, control over his life for the time being.

Tom, Russell and a guy called Adam were on his team, while Stephen, Jonathan, Dan and Will were on the other. It hadn't started out seriously, but as time flew away, they all grew to take the game more seriously. The fact that it started raining after a while and they got all muddy, simply made the game more fun.

James dropped by once, staying for an hour or so, before stating that soccer was a disgusting and brutal sport, made even worse by the mud. He did like seeing Alex sweaty, wet and muddy, though. Alex shot the ball, quite deliberately, at his friend for that. Luckily, the muddy football hit it's target and James hurried away, muttering about coming over to Wolf's flat later instead.

Alex laughed loudly as Dan slipped in the mud for the third time, as he, Alex, ran away with the ball. He dribbled it to Tom, who shot it right back at him, as they were running. The shorter one of them, just as drenched in rain and sweat and mud as the other boys were, made a maneuver, tricking the opposing team and sent the ball to Alex again (not that either of them wanted to brag, but they both knew that they made an excellent team, no matter the sport).

The spy grinned, making sure not to slip, and kicked the ball toward the goal. Jonathan, whom usually was a fullback or forward, was not used to standing there, practically a target – so when Alex, whom was strong and kicked _hard_, shot, Jonathan couldn't help but flinch away. But then he realized that it was stupid – what the hell, a fractured limb or two, what did that matter? – the opposing team made a goal, Russell and Adam howling happily in the background, Tom and Alex grinning triumphantly.

"Eat that!" Russell shouted over the heavy rain. "Four – three, to us!"

"Shut it, Bingham!" Stephen shouted, though he didn't sound mad in the least. "We'll win this match, for sure--!"

"Maybe next time," Will cut off. "It's half past five. Gotta get home and do that bloody History essay, eh?"

"Just ten minutes!" Tom exclaimed. "Ten minutes!"

"We'll catch a cold..." Jonathan said, carefully.

"What the hell, Alex's been sick for the better part of the term and still gets better grades than me, so what does it matter if you get sick for a day or two?" Tom grinned widely. It did surprise Alex how smoothly his friend could lie about that. Without even blinking.

"Okay, then." Jonathan grinned, too. "Ten minutes."

"Ten minutes," the others agreed. "Then we'll go home for today."

~~.._..~~

An hour and a half later, Alex was cycling through the city. He was tired and wet and sweaty and muddy, yet, grinning like never before. He was so damn _happy_.

The spy came "home", left the bike and dragged himself up the stairs, leaving puddles of water and dirt on each and every step. He entered the apartment and absently noted that only one pair of shoes were by the door. Well, shoes that had been used within the past three hours, at least.

"Cub? Is that you?" Snake called from the kitchen.

"Yeah." Alex replied, going on the tip of his toes, trying not to muddy the floor too much.

Snake came out from the kitchen – he certainly looked... well,_ better,_ Alex supposed, than Wolf did in that apron. The SAS agent eyed him, frowning, going into mommy-mode again.

"What have you been doing? Nothing offense, but you look like shit," well, except for the choice of words. "And you'll get sick like that, too. Go change and take a shower and I'll fix you something to warm you up."

The spy smirked slightly, once again resisting the urge to say "Yes, mum", but obeyed Snake nonetheless. He went into his room, left his bag and headed for the shower. Alex took a quick but hot shower, enjoying the feel of warm water against his cold skin, before leaving the bathroom and tiptoed over to his room, changing into soft, comfortable and casual clothes. Too big, too. Maybe because they had been Ian's.

Alex hadn't had the heart to throw Ian's belongings away and that would somehow also be finally confirming that there was no going back, that he had accepted his future and that it wasn't going to be anything he could control. And he didn't want that, so Alex held on to anything that allowed him to remember Ian clearly, like when he had been little and they had traveled together.

Plus, he didn't have to buy new clothes. Sure, Ian's clothes were too big for him, but Alex could still sleep in them or wear them when he was just a home, doing nothing that craved company he had to look good for. And he would surely grow into the clothes with time.

Alex walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table, shivering slightly. He was still cold, after spending so much time out in the rain.

"Hell, Cub, what made you stay out for so long? You _want _toget sick, or what?" Snake muttered, walking about the kitchen; from the saucepan where he was preparing the dinner, to the teapot, getting a mug and pouring some tea into it. He added a small spoon of sugar and then honey, too, just to make it sweeter. Obviously a habit. Then Snake set the tea in front of Alex, smiling slightly.

"Drink. You're gonna be cold all night, after hours in the rain." he explained, casually.

"Playing soccer." the teen murmured, placing his hands around the mug, but not drinking.

He associated tea with nightmares. Once, a night many months ago, Alex had been awoken by a nightmare. It was the first one that had been that bad and he certainly hadn't been able to go to sleep after it. So he had strutted down to the kitchen and, not knowing what to do, simply sat down at the table, resting his heads in his hand, desperately trying _not_ to think. And that had been when Jack came.

She had, to be quite honest, not heard anything at all from Alex's room – which was how she knew that he had been having nightmares. Usually, the teen talked in his sleep, tossed, turned, muttered. But when he relived something, had bad dreams, he was entirely quiet, not uttering a sound. Then Jack had heard him going down the stairs.

Jack had made Alex a cup of tea, adding extra honey and talking softly to him all night, though he barely replied. And that happened every now and then – Alex having a nightmare, that is – and every time, Jack would be there, making him some tea. Which was why the spy associated tea with nightmares.

It had ruined tea for him thoroughly. Alex couldn't drink it casually any longer, only reminded of those horrible nights every time.

But the teen decided not to let Snake know that, and simply took a sip of the tea. Sure, it was good, but it was totally at the wrong time. He much would have preferred coffee.

"So, how was your day, Cub?" Snake asked, his back to the teen. Alex wished that Snake would, for once, stop acting like a mommy. He wasn't a woman, for god's sake, and certainly not a mother! Though it was a bit amusing. Back at Brecon Beacons, Alex would never even have _guessed_ that Snake _could _act like this. Neither had he thought that Wolf had a heart and that Eagle actually had the same mind capacity as a child, but still.

"Great." Alex answered, truthfully, taking another sip. "I'm not gonna have to be Juliet in the play, Mr Simmons mentioned my grades going up again and then we played soccer. I hit James with a muddy football." he shrugged. "_And_ my team won."

"Sounds fun." Snake grinned, looking momentarily dangerous/mad, holding up the kitchen knife as he spoke, gesturing with it vaguely. "I especially liked the part where you hit your perv-- _special_ friend with the muddy football." Alex laughed.

"He's not that perverted. He's nice – really, he is. He's not always like that. James just came up with the stupid idea to hit on me every time we see each other a couple of months ago – and only God knows why. But most of the time, it's okay. He knows how to be serious and when." Alex was strangely talkative today. "And since he was also at Point Blanc... he knows how real those situations really are. We could totally talk about all that. He was quite traumatized, too..."

Snake frowned, waving thoughtfully with the kitchen knife. Alex raised an eyebrow at it.

"Maybe you should put that knife down..." he said, carefully. Though as soon as Snake realized that he'd been waving it around, the teen couldn't help but grin again.

"Shut it, kid," the man muttered, turning back to the food. "you should be happy I cooked today."

"Of course, mommy. You know I love your food, mommy." Alex said, sweetly.

"It's enough with just Eagle, Cub, not you too!" Snake exclaimed, dramatically.

"Talking about me?" Eagle himself asked, just entering the kitchen.

"Of course they are, darling, you're such a lovable thing." Fox said in a sing-a-song voice, sitting down at the table.

"Is it just me, or do they always come together?" Alex murmured. Snake chuckled.

"It's just the way they are. But I never quite know what they're doing, though..."

"Oh, _god_, Snake – are you really implying what I think you're implying?" the teen exclaimed, dramatically. "I never thought of you like such a man! And here I was, thinking you were the unit-mommy!"

Eagle and Fox burst into laughter at that – none of them still explaining what they _really_ were doing, mind you – and Snake threatened Alex with pouring too much salt in his food. Or take out the gun that Wolf kept under his pillow.

And that was when James invited himself in, ending up in a laughing heap underneath the table after ten minutes. He and Eagle made too good a team.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello :) You know, I should be writing a report. The keyword being _should_.**

**But here I am again! Writing and writing, but it's so fun. Can't help it. **

**Thank you all so much for the reviews! :D  
Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider or any other characters.  
… Except for Keith the Bastard (and his friends), Penny the Annoying One, Coach the Greene, etc. **

________________________________________________________

Alex was at school and had no idea of what was going on in the apartment he was currently living in.

Fox had, the previous night while Alex wasn't paying attention or listening )he'd made sure of that), asked James to come over the next morning. Why? Because they obviously needed to talk. Sort things out.

Which was the reason as to why Fox, Snake (the two more responsible ones... or paternal, whichever you prefer) and James were sitting at the table in Wolf's kitchen at half past nine, drinking tea, none of them knowing where to start. Finally, Snake decided to talk.

"So, James," he started, carefully. "you and Alex are _friends_."

"Yeah. I know it sounds cliché and all, but Al and I, we're... hell, best friends. We kind of share a bond that no one would understand...!" James trailed off. "Sorry. I'll try not to make it sound as if we're a couple. Wrong time. Old habit die hard, you know." he grinned briefly. "But seriously. After... did he tell you about that mission at that creepy school?"

"Half of us were there, yes." Fox nodded. "We've heard. Isn't that where you met?"

"Yes," the teen nodded. "we kind of got to know each other there. And after sharing such a... an um, traumatic experience, you can kind of really understand each other. And that was just the beginning. Sort of."

"Okay. I see." Ben nodded, slowly. He decided to wait a little with the romance-part. "You know about all his missions?"

"Um, yeah..." James answered, uncertainly.

"Have you signed the Official Secrets Act(1)?" Fox asked. He was, at the moment, very serious. Not only because this child were friend with "their", K-Unit's, Cub, but also because Eagle wasn't present.

"Um... I... um..." the dark-haired boy looked around nervously. "Look, Alex trusts me enough not to run to MI6 and tell them that I know, so I have to sign that silly thing. He trusts me enough to believe that I'd never tell anyone anything – which I won't."

"So you haven't signed the Official Secrets Act." Fox stated, incredulously.

"No. No, I haven't." James replied and shook his head. Snake simply sighed, but had a strangely fond look on his face as he muttered about Alex actually being a teen, after all. Entrusting another kid with such secrets... no "real", or maybe more experienced, spy would do that. A spy's motto was "Never trust anyone", for god's sake. But Snake had to admit that it somewhat pleased him, to know that it didn't quite apply to their Cub.

"You're probably gonna be around here quite a lot, won't you, kid?" Snake asked and sighed lightly again. James nodded. "Then you better know our real names. We aren't on duty know and it'd be really strange if _you_ went around talking about wolves, eagles and foxes..."

"You _have_ real names?" the teen exclaimed in mock awe. "I thought your mothers had strange zoo-fetishes and named you all after animals! And that's why only _some_ people can become SAS!" Snake shook his head and rolled his eyes. Gestures that would probably stuck permanently if he kept them up.

"Fox, over here, is Benjamin--"

"--Ben." Fox cut in.

"--Daniels." Snake finished. "My name is John Stone(2). Eagle, I presume you know who that is by now, is Martin Williams." he spoke slowly, trying to be pedagogic. "And Wolf, our unit leader, is Eric Damon."

"Did he, by any chance, change his surname? From demon to Damon..?" James couldn't resist. If Alex hadn't done it, he might as well. Plus, Wolf wasn't here now. A dangerous man, without a doubt.

~~.._..~~

It was, in general, a good day. Though half of the school was still going on about him being a drug fiend and/or starring as Juliet, the other half of the school were having just as much fun, entertaining the idea of Tom as Juliet. The short boy was popular and "well known", especially with being as athletic and open minded as he was, so the thought of him as Juliet was quite appreciated, as well.

Tom laughed it away while he were surrounded by others, but as soon as he and Alex got a moment for themselves, he started cursing quite colorfully, swearing that he'd – somehow, using anything to get it through – make Alex Juliet instead. But said spy was just as determined as Tom not to get the part.

Secretly, they both just hoped for someone else to get the role – though neither of them said it out loud and both of them still wanted to get to see the other so thoroughly embarrassed – because it would just be _so_ much easier.

Anyway, the day went by, a bit slowly, but pleasantly nonetheless. History, Art, French, Math, Biology... and finally P.E.

The thing was, that bloody Keith Winston had been glaring at him all day long, and Alex was starting to suspect that the other boy was planning something. Something to throw Alex off his feet – literally. Like pushing him and making it look like an accident, or shoot a ball at him if/when he got a chance. The spy even suspected that Kieth might go so far as to make his little "gang" attack from all sides, or something.

Keith sure was one annoying bastard.

But Alex wouldn't let that get to him, no matter how many times Keith tried to tackle him during the warm-up laps around the court. But when Coach Greene announced that they would be boxing and paired up with the person closest to them at the moment – damn Keith, standing way too close for Alex's comfort – he couldn't help but wonder if it wouldn't be best to say that he wasn't feeling well and would prefer to pass.

But then again, he was a Rider, wasn't he? He wasn't afraid of such trivial things and he didn't back out of it.

It went against his entire family's beliefs.

So Alex did the only thing he could – withstood. Accepted the fact that Keith probably wouldn't give a damn about the sort-of-cushions he was supposed to aim at.

"Rider, Winston, stop staring at each other and get a move on!" Coach roared.

"Yes, sir." both of the boys replied automatically, never once ceasing to glare at each other.

Fortunately, Alex was the one to start with the boxing gloves (3). He didn't hold back too much; but then again, he didn't want to break Keith's arms.

He obviously did well. First simple boxing – twenty straight punches with each arm, nothing complicated. Then a series of uppercuts, twenty with each arm there, too, followed by knee-to-cushion. Forty, all in all, basically twenty of each again. Kind of. Then came the kicks.

Coach Greene strolled around, zigzagging between the pairs, correcting and, occasionally, praising. Then he told them to switch roles.

It went quite well at first – Keith didn't try anything "extraordinary", But Alex made sure to stay alert all the time, just in case. Keith wasn't that good of a sportsman anyway and wasn't that great of a threat.

But it was just that, that somehow got the spy off guard; Keith had, grudgingly (Coach was looking at them all the time), just done what they were supposed to do, without hitting Alex. But then it came to the kicks, and Keith didn't have much balance at all.

He kicked furiously with his right foot, then his left, then the right again, but hurrying so much that whatever little balance he had disappeared and managed a hard kick at Alex's chest before he fell backwards.

But that was all that was needed; he had somehow managed to hit the spy's scar. The bullet-made one, you know, that was still sore and hurt pretty often.

Alex gasped and paled drastically, pursing his lips tightly, to prevent himself from screaming. He held his breath, not trusting himself to move nor speak. He just stood there, trying to regain control of his body.

But damn, it _hurt_! Not quite as being shot all over again, but close enough.

Keith stood up, cursing loudly and stomped away, muttering about how stupid all this was. Coach Greene noticed and frowned as he saw Alex. Tom, somehow catching sight of that, also turned to look at the spy and slowly but surely enough grasped what, more or less, (could) had happened.

The short boy rushed over to Alex, taking the supposed-to-be-protective-cushions away and carefully guided him to the closest bench, even having to help him to sit down. Tom had no idea what to do, but Alex obviously needed help of some sort. The thing was, that he wasn't quite sure what was wrong with his friend – was it some old wound or strange flashback? Because something had indeed happened.

By now, Alex had managed to open his mouth and take a slow, deep breath. _I need my pain meds, _he stated, bitterly.

"Alex, mate, what's wrong?" Tom whispered, anxiously, as he crouched in front of his friend. "Coach will be coming over any time and I gotta tell him _something_. Are you alright? What happened?Was it Keith, that bastard?"

But Alex couldn't answer the questions, and not only because he had to concentrate on breathing slowly and moving as little as possible – but because Coach Greene was taking long steps, making his way over to the two boys.

"Rider, Harris!" he roared. He was quite the loud man. "What's happened? What's wrong with you, Rider?"

Alex opened his mouth, attempting to talk, but the only thing he did was closing his mouth quickly, biting his hip to prevent himself from whimpering. Because _that_ was something he didn't do.

"I, um, think Keith _accidentally_," the word was laced with sarcasm and anger. "hit him somewhere near where he had his, um, appendix surgery and it must've hurt pretty badly..."

"Is that correct, Rider?" Coach roared. Alex nodded weakly. "Harris, take Rider to the infirmary and get that checked. You can go home afterwards. I'll have a talk with Winston when you've gone..." he grumbled and added in a low growl, "Dismissed."

Tom looked back at Alex worriedly. Infirmary? No, there was probably no way the spy was going there. But where to, then?

"Home." the spy murmured softly, as if reading Tom's thought. "Meds." he added, slowly. Alex didn't trust himself to say anything more than that – sentences were beyond him, for the time being. It was hard enough getting out words without groaning.

"You've got pain meds?" Tom asked, relieved but a little incredulous. Alex had never mentioned any medication. He hadn't mentioned a wound so bad that he needed painkillers for it. "Should I call your guardian? That... Wolf-guy?"

Alex shook his head, attempting to stand up but quickly decided to sit down again. It felt as if his legs were going to give out and all he wanted was to get home, drug himself entirely with painkillers and lie down. That was what he needed.

Tom grabbed Alex's arm and swung it around his, Tom's shoulders. Then he rose to his feet. It must've looked pretty silly, especially since the spy was taller than him, but neither cared.

First they went to the changing rooms, though neither changed. They just gathered their things, Tom going on and on about calling Wolf, or at least James, if only for a ride, so they'd get to Wolf's flat faster. But Alex refused, and ten minutes later they were leaving the school, in a pace that was painfully slow.

After the thirty torturous minutes it took them to reach Wolf's flat and ten minutes up the horrible stairs, they were there. Finally.

But the thing was, no one was there and Alex realized that he had no key to open the bloody door, which he would have kicked open if it wasn't for the fact that it already hurt enough to move. Which were the same reasons as to why he wouldn't pick the lock.

"That's it," Tom started, firmly. "I'm calling your guardian."

**_____________________________________________________**

**(1) Is that the name of it? I wasn't sure, so...  
(2)** ** I was **_**so**_** close to naming him John Silver. I really, really wanted to! xD I've always seen Snake as a John and I wanted his surname to start with an S – I was half into the word before I realized that it'd make him John Silver. Kind of. ANYWAY.  
(3) Do you really call it boxing gloves? I looked and looked, but the not-reliable-source wouldn't give me any word for it. Hm.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Well, um, hi! Here I am again. This story is getting really long, don't you think? Well, well.  
The thing about boxing gloves – I seriously had _no idea_ of the name. I thought that it had some complicated name that would probably be hard to spell, or something – but apparently not! Thanks for helping me out x)**

**And thank you all for the reviews! I can't describe how happy I get, every time I see that I've had so many readers and reviewers! That alone makes me so happy, sending dozens of ideas of how I can torment you with my story next, through my head.**

**WARNING. A LOT OF COLORFUL WORDS. But we all love Wolf anyway, now don't we? x3**

**Disclaimer: He's _still_ not mine! Darn. But if I keep writing slash fictions, dirtying the characters more xD , I might just get Horowitz to sell them...**

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Tom looked at the phone, just a little uncertain but tried to hide that from Alex (though he really did know that it was no use trying to hide anything from Alex, because that damn spy was way too attentive for his own good).

Deciding that it didn't help anyone – and certainly _not_ said spy mentioned above – he quickly pressed the _call_ button, ringing the third number on the speed dial. _Eric-Demon_, whom apparently was Alex's temporary guardian.

Talking about Alex; said boy was sitting inhumanly still on the stair, his eyes closed for the time being. He was pretty pale and was frowning slightly – Tom assumed the other teen was trying to meditate or do something to get his mind off the pain. Tom frowned, too, wondering what it possibly could be that had hurt Alex this badly, but that he had yet to reveal.

Now Tom knew that Alex didn't tell him _everything_, but the spy did trust him with pretty much. But whatever this was, it was something that Alex felt that he could not share, not only with not Tom (he frowned and shook his head at the weirdness of that thought), but with James, too – at least, that was what he supposed. Otherwise Alex wouldn't have been so reluctant to call James about all this.

An answer at the other side of the phone startled Tom out of his thoughts.

"_Hello?_" a dark, male voice grunted angrily. Or did he always sound like that?

"U-um, Mr Wolf...sir...?" Tom asked, carefully, just a little amused by the scowl that graced Alex's face at that. He didn't like this at all.

"_Who is this_?" the man on the other line growled suspiciously.

"My-my name is, um, To-Tom Harris, sir," he cleared his throat. "and I'm, uh, one of Alex's mates. Is this Wolf?" Tom decided to ask, just in case. But from Alex's descriptions of the man, it couldn't possibly be anyone else, now could it?

There was a short silence, the man on the other side of the phone probably contemplating whether Tom could be trusted or not. He came to a conclusion quick enough.

"_Yes. What is it?_" you could practically _hear_ the glare on Wolf's face. But also a thin, very thin and barely audible, thread of worry.

"Um, something happened during P.E," Tom answered, slowly, hesitatingly. "and he's, uh, obviously in a lot of pain. But Alex doesn't have a key to your apartment, um, sir, and he claims that he's got pain meds in there..."

"_Why didn't _he_ call?_" Wolf asked, though both of them knew that even if Alex had been shot in one leg and amputated both of his arms, he'd rather try to fix it himself. The spy didn't exactly like asking for help, from anyone.

"He's probably in too much pain," Tom explained, now anxiously, ignoring the glare that was sent his way by the boy in question. "you see, sir, he can barely walk and talk, uh... he's gonna kill me if I say more, but it'd be great if you'd come unlock the door for us, Mr Wolf, sir..."

"_I'll be there,_" Wolf grunted, sounding seriously pissed. Tom almost got scared. "_in five minutes._"

And he hung up.

Tom stared at the phone for a good while, awe written across his face. He'd talked to an _SAS agent..._! How cool was _that_?

Anyway, it didn't take full _five _minutes for said SAS agent to get there – he was there within four, stomping up the stairs hurriedly.

"Tom Harris, eh?" he greeted, glaring. But it was just a low-level glare, so Tom tried not to get offended. Or frightened. He just nodded, the awe-stricken look on his face amplified by hundred. At least.

Wolf turned to Alex, his glare hardening.

"Cub." he said, carefully. Alex, whom had had his eyes closed, opened them slowly and looked at Wolf, without saying a word. He still couldn't quite trust his voice and would rather... make a love confession to Alan Blunt, than seem weak in front of Wolf. Not that his pride would quite allow that – making a love confession to Alan Blunt, that is (though Alex would never even _dream_ of that, he shuddered at the mere thought), _or_ looking weak in front of Wolf (or anyone other than Jack or James, really) – but still.

"Wolf." he replied, softly, in a quiet voice, but did not dare to say more than that.

Wolf seemed to understand, stood up and unlocked the door. Then he went back to Alex, making a move to help him, but the teen refused to get humiliated in such a way and stood up by himself, swaying a little. He cursed himself, Scorpia, snipers, bullet wounds and Keith Winston, as he forced his weak legs forward, pain slicing through him. But Alex bravely just gritted his teeth, frowning hard.

Tom was looking very anxious, taking a half step forward every time Alex made a move, but took a half step back as soon as he realized that his friend wasn't going to topple over.

Wolf was basically doing the same, though the glare that, as usual, graced his face hardened every time the spy looked like he was just about to collapse.

"Bloody hell, Cub, screw that stupid bravery of yours and ask for fucking help!" Wolf finally exclaimed, angrily, causing both of the boys to jump. Then he stomped over to his "ward", wrapped said ward's arm around his shoulders and helped Alex into the apartment, Tom, a little lost, stumbling after them.

Wolf helped Alex into his room, watching as the teen slowly and carefully rummaged through one of his bags, looking for his medication. Wolf still had no idea to what it was or when or why he had gotten it, but settled on asking that afterward, when the spy wasn't in so obviously much pain.

The SAS agent barely noticed Tom leaving the room and returning with a glass of water moments later, handing it to Alex, whom had just found his medications. The spy put a pill in his mouth and gulped it down with water, thankfully. Now he knew that the Codeine wasn't especially strong – Alex found himself blaming and cursing MI6 yet _again_ – but it was definitely better than nothing it all.

The spy went to sit down on his bed, preferring to sit still. It was extremely painful to move around.

"You okay, mate?" Tom asked, worriedly, and sat down beside his friend. Alex nodded, surprisingly tired. "What happened? Did Keith, the annoying little twit, hit you? And why did you have meds for it, already? Old injury? Why haven't you told me?"

Tom was upset enough, not knowing anything about this – Alex didn't even want to imagine how pissed James would be, if he found out. But hopefully, he wouldn't. But then again, he'd probably have to tell Wolf, who'd tell the rest of the K-Unit, and one way or another, it would eventually leak out and reach James' ears. But Alex wouldn't give up any information without a fight.

"You better start talking up, Cub." Wolf said, his voice low and threatening. Alex cleared his throat, taking a discreet, deep breath before daring to try his voice.

"Keith kind of managed a kick on... an old injury." he explained, quietly. "But not on purpose... I got meds for it back when I got it," Alex paused briefly, once again making sure that his whole being wouldn't go against him and rebel in any way. "but I haven't really needed them. But now... they're definitely necessary."

And that was just about how much they were going to hear about how much it hurt; but Tom knew Alex well enough to realize that it must hurt like bloody hell, since Alex actually admitted – more or less – that he was in pain. Which he never usually did (voluntarily).

"Look, Tom, can we take this tomorrow? I'm not really up to talking about this now..."

"You're really coming tomorrow? I mean, _can _you?" Tom asked, worried all over again. "Man, mate, you could barely walk here yourself and I don't think it's a good idea if you--"

"See you _tomorrow_, Tom." Alex cut off, his eyes slightly narrowed. The shorter boy got the hint, nodded and picked his bag off the floor. He have Wolf another impressed and awe-struck look, murmured a low goodbye to Alex, turned to stare at Wolf _again_, his eyes as wide as plates, before hurrying out the door and eventually out of the apartment.

Both males were quiet for a long while. Wolf was leaning on the wall, arms crossed. Alex shifted carefully, trying desperately to find a position where his body hurt less. Not that it made much change, but still. He had to try.

Because it was the sort of pain that paralyzed the whole body, though it centered in one place only. His heart. Well, just above, really, but practically his heart. Alex didn't like thinking about it – how close it had really been, what could have happened, what actually _did_ happen... how it had felt, what he had seen.

All those things were uncomfortable to think about. They didn't scare Alex – not much really did – it was just... _unpleasant_ to think about. One of the worst things, had been the complete lack of control.

Wolf was the one to finally break the silence.

"Show me." he grunted, frowning slightly. K-Unit's leader, that was what he was – and he was proud of it. Proud of his unit, every one of them – maybe Tiger (the new member) a little less, since he still saw Fox as a member. Cub was also one of them. And Wolf didn't like seeing _anyone_ in_ his_ unit hurt.

"What?" the teen, whom had just closed his eyes (to try and ignore is temporary guardian), opened them again.

"Show me. The wound." Wolf grumbled. "If that damned kid kicked you where you've got some old wound, it could be serious." he was clearly reluctant to talk about Alex getting serious wounds during missions. It angered him enough to not know what the teen had been up to, as it was. Damn spy wouldn't talk about it.

"I'm fine." Alex sighed. "Just need to sleep." he added, trying to make Wolf get the point.

"It could be serious." the SAS agent repeated. "And you'd rather wanna show it to me now than have Snake overreacting later."

Alex understood what that meant. Snake would be _s__o _overreacting, what with being the unit's medic(and woman). Would probably threaten the spy with a copious mass of sedatives and morphine, unless he showed him the _real _injury.

"Look, Wolf," he tried. "the mission is confidential--"

"But not the wound. Speak up, Cub."

Alex opened his mouth, just about to come up with a somewhat believable excuse, when someone assaulted the doorbell. Wolf glared, muttering about how Eagle was an idiotic imbecile who was too energetic and foolish for his own good. Plus a bunch of swearwords that the spy was pretty sure Wolf wouldn't repeat in front of his grandparents.

Eagle, looking uncharacteristically serious, lunged into the rooms moments later. His breathing was quick, as if he had been running.

"Cub!" he exclaimed. "What the hell's happened? Eric called and said you were hurt and we had no idea what it was--"

"You called_ Eagle_?" Alex cut off, incredulously. He turned to Wolf, who was looking slightly uncomfortable. He shifted.

"Felt they needed to know." the man muttered. "And Eagle practically sees himself as your long lost uncle, or something." Wolf was hiding something. He didn't tell him the whole truth.

"You called Ben and Snake too?" the guessed, tiredly. Wolf shifted again and nodded, wordlessly. "Oh, _great..._"

"Hey, you should be happy all of us are willing to come running all this way, just for you, our beloved little Cub!" Eagle, apparently no longer as serious, exclaimed. Both Alex and Wolf raised an eyebrow at _running_. "What?" he added, at their looks.

"Nothing," Wolf grumbled, glaring at his teammate. "now, Cub. Back to the topic."

"I can't tell you a thing about my missions," the teen growled, growing more and more irritated. "I've signed the Official Secrets Act, haven't I? And just because some guy at school hits an old wound – it's at _least_ two months old, probably more, so it doesn't matter, okay? – it doesn't give me the rights to go spill national secrets!"

"But as long as it concerns your health, the national-_bloody_-secrets doesn't matter one shitty bit!" Wolf hissed. He was pretty moody today. But as was Alex, and, being tired and hurt, he was quite snappy as well.

"I'm not _freaking_ allowed to tell you about the _bloody_ mission, okay?" the spy hissed. But getting angry was not good – his breathing got more hurried – and apparently, that wasn't good. It made him hurt even more, and Alex desperately tried to massage the wound to get rid some of the tension and pain. The SAS soldiers noticed and exchanged a somewhat-worried glance.

"We can't help you if you don't tell us what's wrong, Cub." Eagle had switched back to being serious again. But he seemed genuinely concerned, and while it was touching, it was also embarrassing and unnecessary.

"Look, there's a reason as to why I can't tell you," Alex hissed, frowning at the pain. The Codeine had yet to kick in. "you get that, don't you? You're fucking _SAS_! You should've probably heard about half of it, anyway; Scorpia's not really a small or that secretive an organization," he started rambling, almost unconsciously by now, barely paying the fact that he heard the front door being opened and closed, simply assuming that it was Fox or Snake that had arrived.

"And that they got humiliated by an MI6 operative is no secret, either," the spy continued. "so it's no wonder that they want revenge. Now I was just the unlucky bastard who brought them down which is the reason as to why they tried to assassinate me. I got shot and now it hurts, because I was kicked. Happy?"

It wasn't like Alex at all, to act like this. To lose focus and momentarily also control, getting riled up and annoyed enough to start babbling. He already felt bad about it.

"You got shot?"

Surprisingly, it was neither Wolf nor Eagle whom had asked.

In the door stood James (Fox right behind him, but the spy paid his fellow operative no heed), looking shocked – he had not heard of this at all. The shocked expression turned to a furious one – who the hell _dared_ to _shoot_ Alex!? – and on top of that, a hurt look. A betrayed one; because Alex had not mentioned this. He had not trusted James enough to say that he had gotten _shot_. And that was no little secret.

**_________________________________________**

**There _will_ be more feelings! Wolf _will_ be yelling in the next chapter, I promise! Snake might even go berserk with a first aid kit! **


	15. Chapter 15

**Here it is! After at least three, _horrible_ hours, I managed to save this chapter! **

**My computer's mean, you see. It wanted to erase this chapter, just as I was done with it. **

**Anyway; I _know_ that this is way too _serious_ – but I totally blame Breaking Benjamin xD I was listening to them – mostly Unknown Soldier and Evil Angel, two songs that really remind me of Alex – as I wrote. But I'll try to change that in the next chapter. Hopefully, it'll get better, too. I didn't like this :/**

**Once again, there's swearing. Just so you know.**

**Disclaimer: -sigh- **

**______________________________________________________**

"I, uh...I.." Alex tried, but didn't know how to continue. He hadn't counted on James getting to know about this and he had no excuse available. But he couldn't lie so much or directly to James, either. They were way too close, Alex trusted James too much for that. He wasn't "spy" enough to lie to his best friend, not straight out just like that.

"You _what_?" James asked, sharply. Neither boy gave the other men any thought. "You got shot and you didn't tell me! When did this happen? Where were you shot? Are you alright now? Who was the bastard who hurt you?" he paused, briefly, looking as if he was trying to collect his thoughts. But apparently failed. "Why the _hell _didn't you tell me!? Don't you trust me, Alex? Don't you understand how serious this is? I thought we were past lying and hiding stuff!" James' voice steadily rose in volume, as he grew more and more angry. This wasn't fair. He and Alex were supposed to trust each other. Tell each other things. Getting shot was not a thing you kept quiet about, no matter what kind of freaking super spy you were.

"Don't you trust me?" James repeated, this time hurt clearly written all over his face. He took a couple of steps forward, his eyes never leaving Alex's.

Alex didn't know what to say – he was too inexperienced when it came to things like these. Real fights with friends. And what could he possibly say to James? "I'm sorry, but it's a sensitive subject"? That was no excuse. "Sorry, but it never came up"? That was just lame. It didn't explain anything.

Plus, he had _enormous _problems with admitting his trust to anyone aloud. Of course he trusted James – there was no doubt about that, he trusted James much more than he'd ever allow himself to admit – but the bloody business he was involved in made it damn clear that it was foolish to trust anyone. If anyone got to know who you trusted, you were practically dead. He had trusted the wrong person before.

But, but – _James_!

"I... of _course_ I...I'm... sorry." again, Alex couldn't get any words out. Where to start?

An agonized look crossed James' features and the spy actually winced.

James realized that nothing was going to happen, he wasn't going to get a proper answer – and the fact that he couldn't sort his thoughts didn't help in the least. This was too much to take in.

So he did the first thing that occurred to him; spun around and stomped away, without another word. A few moments later, Alex could hear the front door being throw shut.

There was silence once again.

Fox entered the room, murmuring something about Snake being on his way. Eagle just blinked, also having extreme difficulties taking any of this in. Wolf looked _unusually_ pissed, which did say quite a bit.

"You. Were _shot_." the man finally stated. Alex rubbed his eyes, sighed tiredly and nodded. "Where?"

Wolf was still surprisingly calm, though the teen could see that the man was really just a ticking bomb that could(/most likely _would_) go off any second now.

"The bullet..." Alex cleared his throat. "The bullet went just above my heart."

He'd have expected some sort of shocked silence or maybe immediate swearwords and/or people yelling at him, so Alex was surprised at the reactions his words actually got. They were all so... _concerned_. It was an alien feeling to him.

"Why haven't you told us about this?!"

"How come you're still alive!?"

"Why the _hell_ didn't we know about this!?"

"It wasn't appendicitis, was it? Bloody...freaking... _shit_..."

All the questions came at the same time and all three of the SAS (and partially MI6) men flew at him. Which was when Snake entered, having heard it all, glaring furiously (yes, he _could_ glare furiously, believe it or not); because Cub had been shot. Nearly in the bloody _heart_. And then struck at the very same place.

Without. Seeing. A doctor.

"Um, hi, Snake...?" Alex tried, ignoring the other questions. Though the questions had mostly gone over to Wolf shouting angrily about Cub being in _his_ unit, and _he_ was supposed to know what was happening to _his_ unit. Wolf was infuriated with the fact that he – _they_, really – had only been told the same lie as everyone else.

"_Alex_." Snake hissed, also ignoring the ranting unit leader in the background. "Shirt off. Now." Usually, Alex would have retorted with some remark, saying that in most places, an adult asking a kid to undress was inappropriate. But now was definitely not the time.

"It's nothing serious – normally I can tell if there's any real or internal damage, and now it's not! It just hurts a little, but I can handle that." Alex tried, supposed-to-be-somewhat-soothingly.

Snake frowned and narrowed his eyes. Alex looked back at him calmly.

Snake frowned some more, his eyes still narrowed. Alex started to slowly drag off his T-shirt.

The medic couldn't help but smile slightly – not just because he had managed to "frown" the spy down, but also because he was relieved that said spy obeyed him. He caught the cautious glance Alex sent the rest of the unit, and understood what he meant. Snake ushered the rest of the unit out, telling Wolf that he could yell all he wanted later. This was about Alex – Snake's teammate and kind-of-like-a-ward-too, but most importantly, his _patient_. Snake took his medical education very seriously, though not nearly as seriously as he took the situation regarding Alex. It was all so confusing and some details – like Alex's missions, the bullet wound, etc. – were frankly disturbing, and he knew not what to do of it.

"Can you stand?" Snake asked, softly, as he closed the door. Alex (he hated doing something so childish, but he couldn't help it – he was tired and frustrated and lacked the control he craved) _huffed_. He stood up, painfully slowly, and dragged off his shirt entirely. He still wore his P.E clothes.

Though Alex decided that it wouldn't do any harm to grab the back support of his chair, just in case. Didn't want his legs giving out, now did he.

The spy tried to stay calm as he watched Snake open a "first aid" kit, though it was more like a setup of supplies for a small hospital. Alex didn't even want to think about why Snake was carrying it around (because he probably hadn't stopped at his own place before getting here – he wouldn't have had the time for that).

Snake turned around and examined his patient, his frown deepening with every scar that he saw. He started muttering about MI6 being complete imbeciles and how he'd like to sue them – or better yet, play the role of the real SAS man he was and shoot them all. Now Snake was, by nature, not a violent man (_cough, cough_) and he rarely carried out his threats, but he certainly didn't like what he saw.

Alex's body was marred with scars, but the most eye-catching one, was probably the scar after the bullet wound, that graced his chest, just over his heart. Plus all the muscles; they seemed so out-of-place on such a young teenager. And Cub was so thin... was he even eating enough?

Alex was getting rather restless; he didn't like just standing there, squirming under Snake's intense stare. He cleared his throat once more.

"What's up, '_doc_'?" he tried, mustering up a weak grin that quickly faded when he saw Snake's frown deepening even more. Alex rolled his eyes. "Snake, most of these scars doesn't affect me anymore. Just clarify that there's nothing seriously wrong with so that I can dress again. I gotta talk to James, explain..."

"Please, stop, Cub." Snake breathed and looked up, meeting the boy's eyes. He just looked generally anxious and troubled now. "This is _not_ good. Well, there's no real damage – though for the bloody _bullet wound_ – but I was rather speaking about all of this. All these bruises and scars..." he sighed, jadedly. "What have MI6 put you through?"

Alex pursed his lips and clenched his fists, eyes turning deadly serious. They grew dark and any of the little youth that had previously glinted in them, disappeared. But he wasn't going to go with the "confidential" crap now.

"Death." he said, quietly. He lowered his voice so that it was barely audible. "Killing. Almost getting killed. Those things does this to you." he gestured vaguely with his arms.

"But why do you do it, then?" Snake asked, softly, his eyes rapidly moved from Alex to the shot in his hands. The least he could do was give the poor boy proper painkillers, as to relieve the pain at least for a while. Snake didn't want to admit that he did it mostly for himself, to know that he'd done _something_ for the boy.

"It's not like I have a real choice." Alex breathed, suddenly looking exhausted. There was a short pause wherein Snake gave him the shot and the teen redressed and sat back down at the bed.

"They're my legal guardians. I don't have parents," he kept. "they died when I was one. My uncle died almost a year ago. I – normally – live with my caretaker, Jack; she's from USA. And it's... kind of like, if I don't what they ask me to do, she'll get deported and I'll be put in an orphanage. Because that is basically what I am – " the spy almost winced as he said it, hurt flickering across his face. "an orphan."

Snake didn't know what to say – but then again, what _could_ he say? He wouldn't say that it was alright, because it wasn't. MI6 used Alex and that was a fact. As was the thing about him being an orphan.

Neither of the males noticed that it had grown suspiciously quiet outside; Wolf was not yelling any longer and Eagle had stopped trying to knock the door down. Fox's slightly sarcastic remarks had ceased.

Alex couldn't bring himself to feel bad about what he had said – he had, for once, spoken the truth and the truth only, no matter how much it hurt. And he felt that he needed to say that out loud, at last this this once, just to regain the control he had earlier lost. In some twisted way, it worked.

"Well, Cub," Snake sighed. "You certainly know how to get yourself into deep shit." the SAS agent shook his head, trying to hide his real thoughts about all this. "Anyway, get some rest. I'll wake you in half an hour and let Wolf yell at you then. Okay?"

"Yeah." Alex nodded, just a little awkward. "And, um... thanks."

Snake could only smile fondly as he turned the lights off and left the teen to sleep.

~~.._..~~

Of course they had all heard. When Snake closed the door behind him, the rest of his teammates were standing there, looking more serious and upset than ever.

But none of them knew what to say. They were all mad at MI6 – even Ben – and felt with Cub. But there was nothing they could do about it, and that they were too aware of.

Eric growled and walked out in the kitchen, glaring at everything he sit his eyes on, as if it was that thing or persons fault. As if it would help or change anything. Childish, yes, but it made _him_ feel better.

"I'm still gonna yell at him!" he announced after a short silence. The others settled in various places of the kitchen, having simply waited for Wolf's reaction and announcement.

"Jeez," Eagle muttered. "give the kid a break, will you? You heard what he said..."

"You just go ahead and yell at him." Fox said, clearly not agreeing with his friend, leaning against the sink with his arms crossed. "Alex wouldn't want us to treat him any differently. I already knew most of it and I know that he hates it when people treat him specially."

"But, when he puts it like that..." Snake murmured, frowning. Worry was written all over his face, his features and body language revealing that he was practically going into mommy-mode again.

"Yes, his life is and has mostly been just shit, but reminding him about it won't help him." Ben stated. "He's good at what he does – I'll never deny that. That kid is probably the best I've ever seen."

"Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that he's a _kid_!" Martin hissed, angrily.

"I know! And don't think that I've tried talking to Mrs Jo--" Fox stopped abruptly and cleared his throat. "The higher-ups about it. That was the first thing I did when I got out of the hospital," he told them, matter-of-factly. "And she agreed with me. They're trying not to use him, but, frankly speaking, Alex is too talented for his own good."

Ben sighed, exasperated. He massaged the bridge of his nose and let a hand go through his hair.

"And Mr Blunt is an idiot. Smart, yes, but a loathsome creep all the same."

"Wow, I never thought I'd live to hear _you_ talk badly about your boss..." Eagle muttered.

"Shut it, Martin." Ben muttered, Snake and Wolf instantly agreeing with him. Eagle huffed and stuck his tongue out.

The serious moment of the day was officially over.

**______________________________________________________**

**I know Wolf didn't yell much in this chapter. And Snake didn't go berserk with a first aid kit.**

**But hopefully, they'll get more opportunities. **


	16. Chapter 16

**Look, it's 02.50. I'm tired. Half of this chapter has been written during this unholy hour of the day... night... well, _morning_. I've no idea how it turned out, seriously xD**

**Either way, I'm hoping you'll enjoy it. I've got slight difficulties concentrating on the keyboard. I should really go to sleep (especially considering that I slept six and a half hours last night... and my three younger siblings are early risers... -sigh- )**

**Thanks for all the wonderful reviews I've received! :D I was giggling happily for myself as I read them. I think my family thinks that I'm slightly... featherbrained (← now, isn't that an interesting word? xD )**

**Language. By the way.**

**Disclaimer: I don't think as many would have read the books if I actually was the real author. I mean, half of the male characters would be – yes, I admit – gay. Hm. xD  
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"Ready... set... go!" Eagle grinned as he looked from Wolf to Alex and back again, one male sitting on either side of the kitchen table. Alex was _so_ going to get yelled at, no matter how tired he (still) was, no matter how much pain he was in, no matter what they had "overheard". Wolf wasn't happy. And he was one to let you know.

"Cub!" Wolf said, loudly, but he wasn't _quite_ yelling. Yet. He was giving the poor kid an outright glare, though. Of the dangerous sort. "Why the hell haven't we heard about you getting shot?"

"It was confidential," Alex explained, through gritted teeth. He didn't have time for this – he had to go see James... before James left the country, or something. He was quite the moody guy, and wouldn't hesitate to do something drastic if he got mad or, probably in this case, hurt. Like randomly leaving the country. Things like time of the flight didn't really matter to him, what with being the son a very rich man.

"Because it was Scorpia – I bet you've heard about them – who shot me. And _they_," he kept, assuming K-Unit would understand who he was talking about now. MI6. "couldn't let that leak out, now could they? Scorpia shooting a fourteen-year-old right outside their HQ – it would really dirty their reputation, wouldn't it?"

"They told us you had appendicitis," Snake cut in, softly. He wasn't angry – just worried. Mostly. And of course he was frowning. "if they decided to tell us, your unit, that you got appendicitis, why not tell us the truth? We already knew that you worked for MI6..."

"I don't know," Alex shrugged. "but you're SAS; bet they didn't want you going against them, for letting a child get shot... I'm mostly talking about _your_ higher-ups, though. I don't they they'd be too happy, protecting this country and ensuring safety, to hear that their allies could let such a thing happen."

"Makes sense." Snake nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer. Well, not with the fact that they didn't tell them, K-Unit, the truth, but that Alex had answered honestly.

"Why the hell didn't _you_ tell m--_us_ about this?" Wolf, now not as "patient" any more, yelled. This was personal.

"I didn't think it was necessary," the teen held up a hand to prevent them from interrupting. "It doesn't hurt me anymore. I barely even feel it." just a _slight_ lie. "Well, up until now." he added.

"It's no excuse for not telling us you got shot!" Fox exclaimed. He, too, looked a little hurt. Alex inwardly cringed.

"It's not a thing I like to talk about, okay?" he murmured, avoiding their eyes. "I don't quite like talking about the assassination attempt on my _life_, you know. And it's not something that comes up."

"But--"

"What'd you expect me to do?" the spy cut off, now slightly annoyed. "Tell you that I got shot a couple of months ago, during dinner, as I ask you to pass the salt? I'm not sure any of us would like to eat after that."

Eagle started to laugh at that. Pretty inappropriate, yes, but he couldn't help it.

"Why did they-- Eagle, shut_ up_!" Wolf's impressive glare certainly shut the taller man up. Wold cleared his throat and tried again. "Why did they shoot you?"

"Because I messed up their plans...?" Alex replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. For him, it was. And it wasn't hard to figure out, was it? Why would Scorpia decide to shoot a fourteen-year-old otherwise? (If you didn't count the little detail that his father had been _John Rider_, a double-agent that had _really_ screwed them over...).

When none of the men seemed to fully get what he was saying – they had quite a hard time believing it, to start with (with the exception of Fox) – and just gave him a quizzical look. The teen sighed.

"The first time I crashed their plans--"

"_First_ time?" Eagle interrupted, incredulously. "How many times have you met them? How the hell are you still _alive_, kid!? Soon you'll be saying that you've swum with sharks and fought bulls..."

First, Alex just stared at Eagle incredulously, one eyebrow raised. Then he grinned slightly – to K-Unit looking as if it was at some intern joke – and shook his head. _If they knew_, he chuckled mentally... _if they knew, they'd probably beat me senseless for being "unwisely careless", but still..._

"Two times." Alex finally answered, deciding not to add anymore about that. "But that doesn't matter--"

"TWO TIMES!?" Wolf had officially gone into dangerously-pissed-and-hell-would-seem-like-paradise-right-now-mode. He was standing now, face flushed from (what Alex assumed was) anger. "YOU'VE MET SCORPIA AND LIVED – TWO _FUCKING_ TIMES!? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU _THINKING_ WITH? YOUR BLOODY _ARSE_!? DO YOU _WANT_ TO DIE? I'D BE FREAKING _DELIGHTED_ TO HELP YOU OUT!"

Though he was pretty censured (if the slight frown on Eagle's face and the relieved look Snake had, was anything to go by). Wolf didn't swear too much. Alex was pretty sure he would be able to hear afterwards. It wasn't near as bad as the teen would had expected it to be.

The man did go on for a while, though, mostly repeating everything he said at least twice. When he finally stopped, breathing heavily and glaring daggers at poor Alex, who did his best not to flinch away, the teen decided to act "out of character" and be a little tactless. Just for the hell of it. Why not ruin the moment?

"Can I go see James now?"

Wolf growled, glaring (that ever-so-faithful glare that rarely left his face) at the boy. Snake smacked a hand over his forehead and shook his head. Fox grinned and patted Alex's shoulder. Eagle was having the time of his life, watching all this.

~~.._..~~

Fox had been nice enough to give Alex a ride to James' hotel – five stars, of course, big and bright and very exclusive. He had talked the entire way about various things; what Alex could say to James, what he thought about all this, Wolf's reaction to hearing about Scorpia and a whole lot more. Pretty impressive, considering that it was only a fifteen-minute ride.

Repeating Snake's earlier words – "_call when you're done, and we'll come and get you_", along with "_don't get into a fight_", and "_if he does something strange to you, hit him_" – Fox grinned, roared "break a leg!" loud enough for anyone within fifty meters to hear and drove off. Alex could only shake his head and sigh.

He entered the hotel, not paying much attention to the snobby-looking receptionist whom looked afflicted that someone like Alex _dared_ enter _this_ hotel, and headed for the stairs. The teen wasn't fond of elevators; they gave him a claustrophobic feeling.

Alex walked up five staircases (each with twenty-five steps, he, unconsciously, counted), and walked slowly toward room number twenty-three (James had a ridiculous obsession with the film(1). Sure, the spy could admit that it was a good film, but James certainly raised the word "obsessed" to a whole new level...).

Two bodyguards were hovering outside the door, but did nothing as he walked up to them – both of the guards knew him already.

Alex hesitatingly raised his hand to knock, but one of the guards – a tall, well-built, dark man with black hair and sunglasses, even though he was indoors. The teen reckoned his name was Smith, Jones or something impersonal along those lines – nodded and gave him a slight, wolfish grin before beckoning for Alex to just open the door and get it over with. There was obviously no need to knock.

The spy put a hand on the handle, preparing himself. He squared his shoulders and nodded curtly (with no reason whatsoever) and entered.

The room was huge with white mild, white walls and a slightly darker wall-to-wall carpet. It had a big window, with a balcony right beside it – both of which gave wonderful views over the city. There was a king-size bed further away, a big TV and a bathroom to the left – which was probably enormous, as well. All in all, it was a splendid room. Apart from the films, comics and other strange "treasures" that lay scattered all over the place. Oh, and James was sitting in a big armchair by the window (he had probably moved it there himself), entirely engrossed in whatever book he was reading this time.

Though he was frowning, and Alex suspected that James was using his amazing ability to think about two things at the same time – he was reading and thinking. Thinking about something serious, the spy assumed, from the look on his friends' face. Alex couldn't help but feel slightly guilty.

James hadn't looked up when the other teen entered, simply presuming that it was one of his bodyguards, so the spy brought on himself to make sure that he got attention.

"Um..." he cleared his throat. "Hey, James. What's up?"

"Oh, dear God, Alex – make a sound when you move!" was James' instant reaction. Then he remembered that he was still angry with his friend and immediately his face tightened.

"Sorry." the spy muttered, out of habit.

"You've got two choices, Alex; one – you tell me the truth, the entire story, _including_ why you didn't tell me, two – you just turn around and leave."James wasn't usually like this, but he, too had to draw lines. When Alex kept major things like getting shot from him, the Austrian boy had to firmly put his foot down. _Foot_...hand...whatever. Anyway.

The spy stood for a couple of seconds, his theatrics "great" as he "contemplated" whether he should go with the truth or not. Finally, he grinned slightly – he was mostly just relieved that James was willing to talk calmly about this. Not making a fuss. Not fighting. Just demanding an answer – and Alex could deal with that. As long as it was James, that is, seeing as the boy already knew so much anyway.

Alex went over to sit on the oversized, patting on a spot beside him.

"Now I'll tell you the _magical-_" he gestured with his hands at that, marking it extra. "tale of how curiosity _almost_ killed the cat..."

~~.._..~~

An hour and a half later, during which Alex had done most of the talking and explaining, James just asking questions every now and then, they were friends again. It sounded cliché, yes, but if either of the boys had acted any differently in the previous situations, it could have ruined their beautiful friendship, and they were both relieved to have secured it.

Alex had ended up talking about the following missions, describing everything in vivid detail, even though James had heard it before. But the spy somehow managed to tell it even _more_ breathtaking this time, not leaving one single emotion or moment out. And while it really was horrible, all of it, it was a fantastic experience to see and hear. Plus, it helped Alex to get it out of his system.

Another twenty minutes after that, they were back on track, talking about what they usually... well, talked about. Everything-and-nothing-at-all.

Until James got this _brilliant_ idea.

"We could have a sleep-over!" he exclaimed. "At your place! I bet your zoo would love it, too!"

"James, _girls_ have sleep-overs." Alex said, clearly disturbed by the idea. "And I'd never – I repeatnever_,_ _ever_ – have any sort of _sleep-over_ with _them_. Don't you see that that'd be... be – _doom_!" he put a hand over his forehead, adding in a murmur "For that would be true disaster! Alas, what have I done for You to bring that upon me?"– blablabla.

"It wouldn't be _that_ bad, would it? That Eagle guy – Martin – he seemed nice." James grinned.

"Oh, _god_... what have I done to deserve this?" Alex muttered, not bothering to ask his friend how he knew Eagle's first name, to start with. He already knew that James and Eagle would make the most horrible couple _ever _(not literally meaning "couple", but rather... well, _something_ else. Because the image of Eagle and James... were definitely more than Alex needed. They were, to be frank, bloody _disturbing_.)

However.

"Aw, don't say that, Al!" James was smirking. He was _enjoying_ this, the bastard. "It'll be great! But it's settled, then, eh? We'll have a sleep-over at Eric's apartment tomorrow."

God knew that Wolf – (cough, cough) _Eric_ – wouldn't allow this.

**________________________________________________________**

**(1) Have you seen the film – 23? It's fantastic! I love it. Jim Carrey is surprisingly cool when he's serious :) Though you get just a _little_ paranoid after seeing it... xD**

**I don't read it through enough times before I upload, okay? I KNOW that there're probably some major errors somewhere that I, the oh-so-cool author, have made. But I'm tired. Feel free to complain xD Criticism is always welcome, though. Can't improve without it :)**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hello. Long time no see xD Sorry, I know I haven't updated in a while. But my "glorious week off", as I've come to call it, is officially over and I barely have time to do anything but going to school, studying and sleeping. Though it's less on the sleeping part, I've noticed. Hm.**

**Well! My birthday is coming up, too, (though it's on the same day as the king's birthday and a festival of sorts – damn them for taking all the attention xD ), so I've gotta deal with that, as well...  
But here it is! I'm not quite sure how it ended up – it feels rushed again :/ – but at least it's done. I'll be trying to write more now, during the weekend :)  
Disclaimer: If I could make a living on this... wow, that' really be "living the dream"... x3  
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Alex was doomed.

Wolf was, too, though. He hadn't gotten a say about the sleep-over, even though it was supposed to be at his apartment – Eagle and Fox had approved before Wolf even knew about it (James knew what he was doing, purposely asking the two less serious SAS men first).

Snake had thought that it'd be a good opportunity for "everyone to get to know each other more properly", and along with James, it was four against two. So there was no arguing about it (according to Snake. Both Alex and Wolf, though in different ways, kept putting up a fight about it).

And the only one the teen could complain to, was Tom; but he wasn't that great a support, seeing as it'd be a dream coming true for him, if he'd get to join. But Alex firmly refused.

"But, Alex, mate, do you realize how _cool_ it's gonna be?" Tom whispered, during a random self-study hour (their History teacher was sick, so they had self-study with Mrs Steel instead). "I mean, _SAS_ soldiers--" though that was "cool" enough of on its own, if you'd ever ask Tom. "--and one of the richest kid's in Europe – all of which are totally crushing on you! It's gonna be, like – like, better than Star Wars!"

Alex would have hit Tom really hard for that, if they hadn't been in the classroom, surrounded by other students and Mrs Steel. If Mrs Steel hadn't been there, though, Alex would have hit Tom anyway.

So the spy settled on just conveniently stretching his legs as Tom walked past, heading for the teacher's desk.

The shorter boy yelped, fell and grunted, while Alex was smirking, satisfied with his small revenge.

~~.._..~~

"Al!" James was bouncing up and down, clapping his hands like a young child. "Al! Alex! Over here!" he, needlessly, waved both of his arms, still bouncing. He was clearly having too much fun.

Alex scowled, muttered goodbye to Tom, Will and Adam, adding "I _hope_ I'll see you on Monday" quietly enough for just Tom to hear. Then he walked over to James, leading his bike along.

"Alex!" James grinned widely, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he'd been pissed at this boy yesterday.

"Hi, James," the spy offered a slight smile. "what're you doing here? I thought we said that you'd come over to Wolf's flat at six...?"

"Oh! Yeah, we did," the taller boy still grinned. "but I kind of looked through Eric's film-storage and asked Martin if at least _he_ had any good films, but neither had none. So I figured we'd go rent one. And buy _po-ta-toe chippies!_" – that last bit, was probably one of the most ridiculous and silly things Alex had ever heard, even for coming from James – "po-ta-toe chippies"? Oh, God.

"...but not just that, though, but goody-goody sweets, too. And coke. And popcorn! If we're gonna have a sleep-over, we damn sure're gonna do it right." the Austrian boy finished, contentedly. The spy opened his mouth to say something, but James was quicker; "Oh, and Matt can get your bike to Eric's apartment."

With that, the tall, guy from yesterday – obviously Matt – stepped forward and gently took Alex's bike, offering another slight, wolfish grin before disappearing off to some other car, that drove off minutes later.

"You know, I've been trying to figure out his name for _ages_," James babbled, ushering the spy into the (very expensive, mind you) car. "Matt Smith. Doesn't say much about him, but since he's a bodyguard and government worker and whatever, I suppose it's good." the taller of the boys shrugged. "For him, that is. But he hasn't told me his name before, not until I nagged it out of him yesterday. Though I'm a bit disappointed that it wasn't something more, I dunno, _embarrassing_ like... like Valdemar, or Thaddeus, or Bartholomew(1), or something. Old and a bit strange. Anyway. What film d'you wanna see?"

Alex was all too used to James' endless talking, but that didn't make it any less... repetitive. To be honest, it amazed the spy how anyone could talk and talk and talk, and _never_ seem to get sick of it.

Alex supposed that it was a trait James and Eagle shared. Maybe they were... brothers, in their last life... or twins. Or they simply had twin-souls. Totally depend on what you believe in.

Ten minutes later, the driver parked the car and James and Alex stepped out, three bodyguards following them, watching their every step, but from a couple of meters distance.

And James was _still_ talking.

"...though I haven't watched a real, good science-fiction movie in a while, so that'd be fun to watch, too. Neither Martin nor Eric have the Stars Wars films! I mean, it's like... six, film; most are bound to have at least _one_ of them! I asked Ben about it, and he said that it's no fun watching Star Wars with Martin, because he's criticizing it so thoroughly it gets hard to concentrate on the plot... but I think he's only seen the old films. How can one _not_ like Star Wars? I mean, George Lucas is a total _genius_...!" James sighed, dramatically. Just because he knew all the films by heart.

"Or we could just watch Spiderman. Superman. Indiana Jones, maybe?" the taller of the boys led them into a CD store, and flippantly looked through their assortment, not paying much attention to what he was looking at. "Or we could just keep it simple, and watch a horror movie. There's one film, Spanish, I think, something along the lines of _The Orphanage_, which I've heard is great. I don't think I'd get much of a film in Spanish, but you and Eric would probably understand, anyway... and I've heard that it's great, so I'd like to see it anyway. But I don't know if it's quite horror, or not... oh, look, Al – they've got the Sweeney Todd soundtrack! Now we can listen to Judge Turpin singing, all day long!"

"James, that was just fun the _first_ time..." Alex sighed, though he grinned slightly. He was happy to get an _opportunity_ to talk; with James, those opportunities were few. "...but after listening to him sing like, one hundred and forty-two times, it's just not as fun anymore."

"Okay, then," James sighed lightly, the grin still lingering on his lips. "well, back to the films. Perhaps The Grudge? Or Shutter?" he laughed at the look on Alex's face. Said boy didn't really like those sorts of movies – not because he got frightened, but because they lacked a certain little thing that was called _realism. _Sure, they were very good, how they had been filmed and all that, but... still."Okay, then. None of those. It's no fun, anyway, when you're just sitting and criticizing everything they do during ninety of the ninety-two minutes."

"Good." the spy nodded, contentedly. They left the CD store, walked down the street and into the set(2).

"I know!" James suddenly exclaimed, and spun around to face his shorter friend.

"Last time you said that, regarding films we'd see, you made me watch_ Agent Cody Banks_." Alex stated, rather bitterly.

It was a film about a teenage spy who worked for the CIA. He was painfully obvious with everything he did – had the guy ever heard of _subtlety_!? – though, everything was just so damn _palpable_, his mission was obnoxiously easy and he got the girl in the end. It was just... just... _bad_.

He wasn't about to start talking about it; he knew that as soon as he started cursing the damn film, it'd be impossible to _stop_. James was too well aware of that, too.

"Well, they'd totally get to see another side of you, if we watched that movie together..." the Austrian boy stated, smirking. He saw that Alex was about to complain, which would probably end with smacking him over the head _again_, so he hurried to add: "Or we could just go with James Bond. Keep it simple, y'know. And I'm sure Ben would be absolutely _thrilled_, too."

"James, _please_." it was practically a plea, Alex's eyes going over the titles. He stopped briefly at Mission: Impossible (well, it _were_ a little more realistic...) and X-Man. "Why not just some, you know, _normal_ movie that doesn't relate to... anything. Well, anything... that...that... – hell, you get it!"

"Yeah, yeah," James chuckled, somewhat tiredly. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Alex replied, unnecessarily.

"So, finding anything worth watching?" the taller boy asked after a while, walking up to the spy, stopping right behind him, eerily close. He leaned down so that they were cheek to cheek – causing Alex to blush, mostly because of the close proximity. He wasn't used to human contact; even if it was just something so simple like someone patting his shoulder or nudging at him for attention.

Though this _was_ a rather odd situation, that would probably look very strange from someone else's point of view.

Alex spun around and shoved James away, hoping that he'd managed to force the blush away.

"James," he hissed. "what've I said about that? _Don't. _Do. it."

"Aw, why don't you wanna show the world how affectionate and loving we are to each other?" James whined, looking mock-hurt.

Alex _chose_ not to answer that.

~~.._..~~

So, in the end they settled on watching Die Hard 4.0 and Rocky Balboa.

Originally, Alex should have been the one to cook; but seeing as he and James returned later than they were supposed to – Wolf and Fox being very suspicious of exactly _what_ the two boys had been doing, though Alex kept repeating that they had just been hanging out, like _friends, _and they even had witnesses! – so Eagle ended up trying to cook, but failed, so they ordered Chinese food instead.

Wolf was, despite hating this very "sleep-over", talking to Rocky on the TV – he was the only one still watching the film. Though "talking" was probably the wrong word. He cursed, huffed and yelled at him – reasons unknown.

James had been talking without ceasing even _once_ so far – so Fox came up with this _brilliant_ to have a sort of eating contest; who could put most popcorns into his mouth before trying to chew, swallow or spit them out? And then after that, they were going to have a similar competition, but one that involved chewing gum, too...

Alex was just watching the competition, more amused than he'd like to admit. Snake was watching, too, but he was wrinkling his nose and frowning in revulsion; it sure was not a nice sight. Both Ben and James were so going to throw up soon, and _he_, Snake, was _not_ going to clean that mess up.

Eagle was being neglected, mostly because the rest of them were annoyed with him, for trying to _boil_ a _chicken_. The sort that's supposed to be in the _oven_, and not in a damn _saucepan_.

So he was trying to regain a little attention, by singing "Eye of the Tiger" as loud as he could, though he knew only the first lines and a word here and there in the chorus (well, if the song _had_ a real _chorus_, that is. Quite hard to tell....). But the others sill did a great job ignoring him, though.

So he decided to do something a little more... drastic.  
Like jumping up from his spot on the floor – he had wrestled all the others for a seat in the couch or in one of the armchairs, but he had lost or forfeited because he was "afraid that he might hurt the children" – and taking place in the spotlight – which in this case was the spot right in front of the TV screen, causing Wolf immediately to roar in frustration or protest – clearing his throat, and taking the "Hamlet-position".

"I went down to the river!" he started, solemnly. "I sat down on the bank. I tried to think but couldn't, so I jumped in and sank!" he spoke loudly, face contorted in concentration. "I came up once and hollered! I came up twice and cried! If that water hadn't a-been so cold," Eagle made a brief, dramatic pause. "I might've sunk and died."(3)

There was a long pause. Fox cleared his throat, but it was Wolf who spoke up first:

"And you damn well could've stayed at the bottom of that bloody bank." he growled. Eagle was shocked – well, at least he _looked_ so, but then again, he and his theatrics... – as the others agreed, though grinning.

"This is when you're supposed to praise my for my amazing gift for remembering poems and reading them with my manly, lovable voice!" Martin exclaimed.

"Lovable?" Snake questioned, one eyebrow raised.

"_Manly_?" James wondered, sounding utterly skeptical.

Alex cracked at that. The look on Eagle's face... _outstanding_.

At the soft sound of his laughter – K-Unit was a bit surprised, seeing as Alex didn't laugh very often, and not so... openly or genuinely – the rest couldn't help but, at least, start chuckling, too. Although Alex had no idea he was the one to actually cause them to laugh.

It was in the middle of all this, the phone started ringing.

Most stopped laughing, just exchanging glances, to see who would be the one to answer. Wolf sent Alex a somewhat apologetic look – kind of "I'm really comfortable over here, and it would be such a pity to move...", because he had a place in the couch Eagle would gladly fight him for, and Alex did sit on the arm on the armchair, anyway – nodding, gesturing for Alex to go answer.

The spy sighed, grinned slightly, traces of laughter still lingering about his face, and went up. He walked out to the hall and picked up the phone.

When Alex had just "moved in" with Wolf, he had been very unsure as of what to do when the phone rang, how he should answer and what he could actually say. But after living there for a while, he had no problems answering. And it wasn't like man rang Wolf, anyway.

However, he had not been ready to hear _that_ voice on the other side of the line, and he immediately wished that someone else would have picked up.

"Alex." the head of the Special Operations greeted, politely, though rather stiffly. There wasn't much she could say, and she had also adapted her boss's habit to be blunt. "I've sent a car to fetch you. We would like you to be at the Royal and General Bank in fifteen minutes."

Now, _this_ was _and-here-MI6-comes-again_ kind of bad.

**____________________________________________________________**

**(1) Now, this is what happens when I get bored out of my mind. Just wanted you to know that "Thaddeus" and "Bartholomew" is from "The Sign of Four", by sir Arthur Conan Doyle – of course the names doesn't belong solely to him, but I'm kind of currently reading that now... Oh, and "Valdemar" is inspired by one of Edgar Allan Poe's stories... -.-'**

**(2) Is there a _word_ for the place where you rent movies...? Mum said it was "set", but I've never heard of it, so I've no idea xP  
(3) A part of "Life is fine" by Langston Hughes :)**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hi! :D Sorry for the wait. The excuse? School. Can't say much more than that.  
But it's not just homework and tests and exams and obnoxious teachers, but also a certain Talent Show-thingy... and I'm one of the people organizing it; other than me, it's to technicians, one teacher and the hosts. It's on Tuesday; we're having a hard time getting it all to work.**

**My dad sounds like he's ready to come here and _drag_ me downstairs now, so I've gotta go :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider.**

**___________________________________________________________**

"_What_?" Alex hissed. "No way."

Not another mission – not already. No. He couldn't, he_ wouldn't_, and why now? What could they possibly want of him this time? He was done with MI6. They knew that, and _still_ they could call him like this, demanding that Alex went to the other side of the world and risked his life because it was an "emergency" and he was their "only hope". Of _course_ they had no one else that could do the job. Their technically _illegal_ spy could do it, yes, why not?

"_Alex, there is no time to argue about this_." Mrs Jones said, sternly.

"I just got back," Alex stated. Well, more or less "just". But he hadn't been back for very long, now had he? "And I _did_ say that I'm not going to do it any longer. I'm done spying. I'm done with _you_." he made sure to speak quietly; he didn't want K-Unit or James to realize whom he was talking to, didn't want them to know what this was about. It had been hard enough to explain the deal about his bullet wound – to have to tell them, more or less in detail, about his exact "relation" to MI6 would... would not be fun. And it would be so complicated, even though he had both James and Ben to fill the others, if just a little.

The reactions to the bullet wound had been so strong... and if K-Unit got to hear it all, they'd be – in lack of other word – pissed. _Really_ pissed.

Alan Blunt would have to fear for his life, if Wolf got a hold of a gun – though that part was easy; being an SAS, he had one in the apartment, just to be sure – and managed to get into the MI6 headquarters. Eagle would help his leader to blow the place up. Snake would cover up their tracks. Fox would find a way to lay the blame on someone else.

They made such a good team.

"_It is an emergency, Alex_." Mrs Jones tried again. "_You're the only one who can do this. Believe me, if there _was_ anyone else that could do it, we wouldn't call you--_"

"It's not like I haven't heard that one before." Alex hissed. "Jack's not even in the UK now. You won't be able to use that one, this time." he added, confidently. Sure, he knew it was stupid to get his hopes up – not to mention to act like this and childishly refuse – but he couldn't quite help it.

But then again, the spy reasoned, there wasn't much else they _could_ use. They didn't have enough to use to blackmail him with. Well, at least he _thought_ so.

"_I've heard that Mr Sprintz is visiting you._" Mrs Jones started suddenly, voice emotionless. Alex stiffened, eyes widening.

_No_.

He had expected that she would start nagging about even meeting him after Point Blanc to start with, but Mrs Jones did no such thing. Not this time, at least. "_And the two of you seem to have quite an... intimate relationship_."

What. The. _Hell_?

Where did she get... get "_intimate_" from?

Apparently Mrs Jones misinterpreted his silence, cleared her throat and continued, sounding somewhat pleased with herself:

"_I have a photo_," there was no need to mention that they had spied on the teen through the security cameras – he already knew that much. "_taken earlier today, in your local rental store, wherein you and Mr Sprintz are standing... _unusually_ close. I will not comment on this, though I cannot say that I approve of it_."

Alex blinked. And blinked. He opened his mouth to reply, to explain and/or to swear; but he couldn't work out exactly _what_ it was he wanted to say. So Mrs Jones spoke again.

"_Mr Blunt has yet to see the photo..._"

They were using James. Alex couldn't believe they were using James – James, of all people! – against him, to make him do whatever they wanted. Mrs Jones had also known that Jack was not something they could use any longer, and seeing as the spy hadn't "stumbled upon" this mission himself, they had had to use _something_.

But Alex was going to do it; he had to. And Mrs Jones knew it.

"There's no such bond between me and James," the spy hissed into the phone, almost desperately, his fists clenched. "you've got it wrong. And--"

"_Alex, I do not care if I have somehow misunderstood your and Mr Sprintz's relationship, but we need your help..._" And they would use any means necessary; the spy already knew that. He had noticed as much by now.

Alex bit his lip and said nothing. Mrs Jones understood what he meant this time, and gave a light sigh of relief.

"_The car should be there in a matter of minutes. I will see you soon, Alex. Goodbye._" Mrs Jones hung up.

The teen lowered the phone from his ear and glared at it for a while, as if that would make anything better.

But eventually he put it in its place and sighed. Alex let a hand go through his hair and rubbed the bridge of his nose, slowly walking back to the living room.

"Uh, James? Can I talk with you?" the spy asked, trying to seem nonchalant.

"Yeah, sure." James grinned, and stuck out his tongue at Fox as he rose up. The SAS-gone-MI6-agent looked as if he was going to throw up. Or explode. Whatever happened, there sure was going to be popcorn _everywhere_ afterwards...

"Who was it?" Wolf wondered, one eyebrow raised. He and – surprisingly – Eagle had been the one ones to realize that something must be going on when Alex, firstly, spoke quietly and quickly on the phone and then tried to seem flippant about talking with James, and James only (otherwise the two teens just spoke openly, ignoring the fact that they actually had company).

"Some salesman." Alex muttered and went back into the hall as James reached him.

First they just stood, facing each other, neither saying anything. James was waiting for Alex to talk, while Alex himself tried to figure out what to say and where to start.

When the spy realized that he wasn't going to come up with anything just like that, he turned around and started to look for his shoes, not facing his friend.

"Al...?" the Austrian boy asked, hesitatingly, walking up to his friend and attempting to reach for his own pair of shoes. "Where are we going?"

Alex rose to his full length – still shorter than James, but he tried not to think about that – and met the other boy's eyes briefly. Slowly, slowly James started to understand what was happening.

"You might want to get yourself a ticket back to Austria," Alex murmured tiredly. He turned around again, chose a jacket and pulled it on. "I'm not sure when," – and _if_ – "I get back, and there's no point for you just hanging around..."

"Alex, there's no way I'm actually gonna _let_ you get away when I know that you're going! You understand that, don't you?" James said, quite loudly and all serious now. Even a little menacing. He wouldn't hesitate to lock the spy up in some room if he had to.

"James..." Alex sighed and let a hand go through his hair again.

"But Jack's not here! They can't use her visa as an excuse to deport her and it's nothing to do with you family or – or whatever!" the Austrian came to that conclusion rather quickly, and used it as a desperate excuse.

The spy looked away. He didn't have the heart to say that this time they used him, James, instead. James would blame himself too much, get furious. Probably try to storm MI6 himself, using K-Unit (whom doubtlessly would follow) and all his bodyguards, like a private little army.

"Please, Alex, don't do this." James would beg if he had to, as long as Alex didn't do this, didn't leave. Because – because what if he didn't come back? What if he got... shot again? James was sick of seeing Alex battered up, _jaded_, hurt and on the brink of... _breaking_. Not (only) physically, but mentally. Neither of the boys could stand it, but it was something that made Alex keep going; maybe it was the lack of self-preservation or his sense of justice or ill will of forcing anyone else to do in his stead.

"Cub?"

Great. Just great.

K-Unit must have heard, and now they were standing here, too. Though they just looked puzzled and/or confused. Ben had already put two and two together, but the others didn't know enough of how MI6 worked to completely have figured it out yet.

"Thank you, James," Alex muttered, forcing sarcasm into his voice. "here I was trying to be secretive, and you just ruined it." he shook his head, dramatically.

When it didn't get the effect the teen had hoped for, he dropped the theatrics.

"The car should be here by now," the spy murmured. "I gotta go.--"

"I'll be waiting here, Alex." James said, seriously. The other teen rolled his eyes; ah, the drama.

"Sure, you do that. Not my time you're wasting." Alex turned to K-Unit, surprised that none of them had said anything yet. "I'll be going now. Just so you know, there's not gonna be any way of contacting me and I have no idea for how long I'll be gone or what I'm gonna do," he explained it to them matter-of-factly. "Threatening Blunt won't do – Jack tried, and it didn't help in the least, and she even brought a kitchen knife. Though I think she kept it in her handbag during the meeting, but still... Anyway. Don't get too worried if they announce me MIA; they have before, and I'm not sure if they even searched thoroughly before doing so..."

Wolf was confused, but tried to cover it up by looking angry... again. Snake had gone into mommy-mode, frowning worriedly. Fox was frowning, "Agent Daniels" threatening to come out. Eagle looked extremely serious, and had also started to turn angry (but only because he knew more about this than his two – official – teammates, seeing as he spent more time with Fox and knew more about this).

"..someone, _please_ cook for Wolf...! James, don't pester them too much. Oh, and if anyone comes up with a better excuse than 'I'm sick' to use in school, I'll give you a... uh..." he tried to come up with something to say, but came up empty.

"A favor."Alex finished simply after a couple of seconds. "Everything clear?"

There was a short silence. That was when Eagle carefully and "discreetly" glided to the door and was just about to lock it, when the spy pushed him away.

"C'mon, guys, I know from experience that it doesn't help to avoid them." Alex rolled his eyes and sighed again. Stalling didn't help; he wanted to get to MI6 HQ and get it over with. He didn't quite believe there was any way out of it, but he had to go there either way.

"Cub, you're still hurt!--" Snake started, but was instantly cut off by his teammate.

"What about school? You can't just leave! And like John said, you're still hurt--" Eagle – still uncharacteristically serious – tried to reason, though his eyes darted from Alex to the door, trying to determine whether or not he would be able to just grab the teen and lock him up and tell MI6 he was sick or busy or had run away... or something.

"What if they want you to deal with Scor-- _them_ again?" Ben tried. "They cause so much and they're everywhere... And third encounter? It sounds way too risky, and--"

"Like hell you're going anywhere!" Wolf was the loudest one. And by far the angriest one, too. Though "mad", "enraged", "furious" or just "_pissed off_" would be better ways to put it. "You're a bloody _kid_!"

"When I successfully accomplish my missions, not many actually _complain_ about it." Alex pointed out, coldly. "None of you have, so far, either."

"It-it's different now!" Wolf was surprised by the sudden change of demeanor from the teen. Alex had gone from a mature youth to a cold... agent. A spy. "You're my freaking _ward_, and I can't just let you--"

"Exactly _how_ is it any different now?" Alex asked, his back to the others, as he opened the door.

He knew James expression was probably mostly hurt. Snake would be frowning. Wolf was probably looking shocked, and still a little mad. Eagle would have a look of slight pity and more anger.

But Ben would just look sad; because he _knew_ Alex had to do this, and that there was no escape.

"Goodbye, then."

And he walked out the door.

~~.._..~~

Alex had heard that to part with someone right after a brawl – that was the first word that popped into his mind, that suited the previous situation somewhat – especially not without making up again.

He hadn't exactly been... on good terms, with K-Unit, so to speak. Or even James, for that matter.

But there was nothing he could do about it now.

Alex entered the sleek, black car without even looking back at Wolf's apartment. He knew too well that they were watching him, but to show outwardly that he cared would just hurt them all further.

His mission had practically begun.

**_______________________________________________________________________**

**Oh, the drama. Sorry. xD**


	19. Chapter 19

**Gah! Sorry for the wait. I've got no, uh, valid excuse, sorry. I've even been sick – meaning I've had more time to write – and _yet_ it's taken me to long to update! I feel so bad about it. Sorry.**

**Well, this is mostly just a filler. Got to pass the time somehow...**

**If there's any swearing, no offense, k? x3**

**Disclaimer: "Thou shall do the dance." I don't know. **

**________________________________________________________________**

The fist week without Alex was strangely empty. Even though the teen had not lived with Wolf for a very long time, his absence was painfully obvious.

Not only did the apartment feel unusually... vacant – not because Alex took much place or was loud in any way – something was just... missing. His presence. He had a way of being in the center without ever really wanting it. Or noticing. However, Cub was a part of the unit, and if the unit weren't... well, united, something wasn't right. Now, James wasn't a part of the unit, and Fox couldn't quite be called that, any longer, either – plus, Tiger (the new guy) wasn't there, was he? – but something was just... amiss.

And the worst part, was not having a clue about what was happening to the kid! Or where he was, for that matter. He could be in the UK or the US or the other side of the world; and they had no way to figure it out, either.

The same night that the spy had left, Snake had called MI6, despite Fox repeatedly telling him that it wasn't going to do any good. James had been extremely upset and even tried to punch Fox – an SAS-gone-MI6 agent.

The boy had tried to take it out on Ben, being enormously frustrated with him for constantly repeating that nothing they did would change anything – Alex was a spy, and to call and nag at MI6 wouldn't help. Snake had also tried to punch Fox after a while.

Eagle had seemed somehow disappointed. Why? No one really knew, he didn't say a word, but they could all tell.

Wolf had returned to the couch and stared at the TV, without really knowing what he was looking at. "Exactly _how_ is it any different now?" just wouldn't leave his mind and he hated himself for feeling _guilty_ at that.

They had no idea what to expect from now on. For all they knew, Alex could be back tomorrow, next week, or in a year. All they could do was wait, which... _wasn't_ one of K-Unit's better qualities.

~~.._..~~

"Chinese, Japanese or Thai?" Eagle asked, lying on the kitchen table, with his legs sticking out over the edge since he was so tall. One arm was supporting his head and the other was draped across his chest, on which the phone also lay.

Since none of them was up to cooking – unless Snake managed to get there in time – they'd ordered takeout almost every day since Alex had left.

"Is there a difference?" Wolf, tired after a long day at work and was currently occupying the couch, watching a rerun of "Years of our lives", grumbled.

"Of course there is," James – who had spent the day in Alex's room with a laptop and a small setup of equipment and odd devices he used to try and track the spy down with (though he wasn't all that sure what he was actually _doing_...) – answered. "Japanese is mostly sushi, ramen and food stored in a box. Chinese is rice and stored in white carton's... Thai's not as specific, though. But I say Japanese."

"You don't even live here," Eagle stated. "You don't get a say."

"You don't live here either, Martin." Wolf muttered. "And you both better get your asses back to your own damn homes. I'm getting sick of having you hanging around here every day. You're bothering me."

"It's not like you're doing anything, anyway." Martin muttered and slowly sat up. James agreed, his eyes set on the small, white device in his hands. It was making a suspicious beeping sound.

"Look, Mr Big Bad Wolf, I'm staying here until Alex comes back. Well, maybe not _here_ exactly, but in the UK. Got it?" James waved the small device, determinedly, as if to prove his point. "I promised to stay."

"It's not like he asked you to." Eagle stated.

"Yes, he did! You just couldn't hear it. I know him well enough to be able to understand what he _actually_ means..." the Austrian boy nodded. "Plus, I'm not leaving until I see that he's alive and in one piece. And I really need to talk to him; you know, ask what made him leave. Usually, he doesn't leave unless--.." James' voice trailed off and he cleared his throat. He didn't know how much Wolf and Eagle knew about this and wasn't about to blabber out what Alex had told him during one of _those_ moments. The low, dark moments when Alex really needed _someone_ – a someone that, with time, had become James. And said boy was proud of that, to have earned so much trust.

The SAS soldiers must have known s_omething,_ though, seeing as Wolf's face darkened and a slight frown wriggled its way onto Eagle's face.

"How much do you know...?" James asked, carefully, happy but also a bit jealous, that Alex seemed to already have told them about... these things; MI6, what he had been through, what they had made him do, the manipulative bastard with the name of Alan Blunt.

James was happy, because it meant that Alex was finally understanding that trusting others wouldn't get him killed, he wouldn't (always) be betrayed and all the people he met wouldn't "just be the same". But he was jealous because it had taken _ages_ for the spy to start opening up to him. It wasn't really fair that they had gotten to know just like that, without having to fight for trust. Well, as much as _he_, James, had, at least.

"Not much." Martin answered, just as Wolf said:

"Not enough."

"I see." The Austrian boy raised an eyebrow. "What did he tell you?"

There was a short silence. Wolf had walked into the kitchen and pushed Eagle off the table so that he could sit there himself, so Martin had jumped up on the counter, folding his legs and holding his feet, looking pretty childish. Especially since he was an adult and SAS agent. However.

"Well, uh, you see, James," Eagle started. "he didn't tell _us_. He told Snake and we kind of overheard..."

"Damn kid won't talk," Eric growled, this subject obviously making him frustrated. "he's my bloody ward! I have rights to know what the hell he's been through."

James watched the two men. Okay, so they obviously cared for Alex, but he knew that much already. He didn't want to be the one telling them what Alex had been through – that was the spy's thing to do. Though they looked quite dangerous, glaring/staring at him like that...

"You're gonna have to ask him," he finally said, sighing. "but Alex's been through a whole lot of shit. And I'm not just talking about his parent's _accident_ and his uncle dying. I mean, try imagining being lied to your entire left – only to be thrown into a world you could barely even imagine, when your one relative dies... and then his missions! You already know he's been shot. And you were also at-" a barely noticeable pause, the next words forced out. "-Point Blanc, weren't you? You saw what he went through there, and that wasn't even half of it. Seriously. Grief was twisted, he-he-he..." James stopped and took a deep breath, missing Eagle's slightly confused and worried glance.

"Grief was sick," the teen said, eyes closed, frowning slightly. "not to mention Mrs Stellenbosch... and the entire place was just – just creepy. The entire thing was probably the worst I've even been through, and Alex had it like, ten times worse. And another six – now seven – missions, along with that... it's... it's horrible." James sighed, opening his eyes again. "Really; I'm pretty sure half of you would have a mental breakdown if you saw Alex right after a mission or when he wakes up--" he stopped abruptly, cleared his throat and continued. "He's just so – so... vulnerable."

"Wow. I never thought I'd hear someone say _vulnerable_ while talking about Cub." Eagle murmured, after a long silence. He looked bewildered, the worry still visible in his eyes.

Wolf was just quiet; he had never seen James like this before and neither had he heard anyone talk about Alex like that. He'd never admit it out loud, but he was worried sick about the kid, and this new information was doing nothing for his nerves.

They were all startled when they heard keys at the door, followed by two voices and then the door being thrown shut again.

"Hope you don't mind me making a copy of your apartment key?" Ben asked, grinning, entering the kitchen with a grocery bag in one hand and the key in the other. The grin faded as he realized that he had walked in during one of those "serious moments"; how could he not notice, when the room was so quite and filled with tension?

Snake was in the kitchen right after Fox, carrying two grocery bags and looking enormously annoyed.

"How hard is it to bloody hang your jacket on a _hook_!? And why do you just, kick of your shoes like that? I nearly tripped! And I'm not just talking about you, Ben, but the rest of you as well." he hissed.

Everyone just stared at him. The longing after "her" – _cough_ – daughter was finally driving her crazy. Poor Snake.

"What the hell are you waiting for? The bags won't unpack themselves," he wasn't oblivious to the situation, he just chose to ignore it and and ask about it later. "We're not ordering takeout again! It's not healthy at all, and just because we're having an off-period it doesn't mean we shouldn't take care of ourselves. And James is still a growing child! This place is a mess! Eric, do you even _have_ a vacuum cleaner?"

"Uh, yes...?" Wolf answered, hesitatingly.

"Good. Then start." Snake ordered. "And James, put away that silly thing," he gestured at the white device. "you're going to help me cook, okay?"

And so they were all forced into action, praying for Alex to return as soon as possible.

~~.._..~~

"_Where is he, then? Did _they_ send him away again?_"

Tom Harris sure was one persistent kid. He had rung three times since yesterday, demanding to know where the hell Alex was. He hadn't showed up at school for _two weeks_! First he had just thought that the spy was keeping away so that he wouldn't have to play Juliet in the play, though he knew that Alex wouldn't do such a thing. So now he was getting really worried; when Jack was away, who was looking out for Alex?

Tom also knew how the spy could get after missions, and he was worried. But Wolf would neither deny nor confirm his questions.

"Look, kid, you'll know it when he gets back." Wolf tried again. "I'll ask him to call you, okay?"

"_Just yes or no!_" Tom said, firmly. "_It's not that hard a question. Just yes or no! I promise I won't call again if you just answer. Besides, I gotta know what to tell the guys at school..._" Wolf was just about to ask about that, but Tom was quicker; "_For God's sake, I'm not gonna tell them the truth! Please, just... just answer, alright?_"

Tom was impressed by himself; not only daring to call to an _SAS agent _– repeatedly! – but then talking him like this, too...! Wow. It was a pity that he couldn't tell anyone, but Alex was going to know when he returned.

Wolf sighed. He was also worried and extremely tired. His massaged the bridge of his nose; if this was going to make the stubborn kid stop calling, then...

"Yes." and he hung up. This was a kid; there was no real reason to be polite and respectful to him. Plus, it was an _annoying,_ stubborn kid. Along with James, it was even _more_ tiring.

But Tom was right, though; Alex had been away for two weeks already. He'd better come back soon or Wolf might just decide to _go looking_ for him. Which didn't bode well. Especially not since "looking for him" meant making a plan that involved threatening Mrs Jones or Mr Blunt into telling him where Cub was. _Or_ he could do it the easy way; make Ben look around for information. He was also an agent, wasn't he?

Eric sighed again, rubbing his eyes. He hadn't gotten much sleep the last few nights – he had started thinking about what Ben had told him about _his_ missions, and just kept seeing Alex coming home broken and bloody... it was like when the phone rang; he was so afraid that it would be _that_ call.

It wasn't just Wolf, though; K-Unit – minus Tiger, plus Fox and James – was hanging around at his apartment almost every day, waiting for Cub to get back. There was always _someone_ hovering by the phone, always _someone_ looking through the window.

Ben seemed less upset than the rest; but maybe that because he was also a part of MI6 – he knew a little better what to expect. The bastard.

Wolf growled and rose from the couch; it was half past one already and he had to go to work tomorrow. Damn kid for doing this to him.

Eric walked about the apartment, putting the lights out and making sure all the windows and the door were locked. Looking out the window once more – nothing there – he turned around and went to his bedroom.

Cub better come back soon. And the damn kid better be alright.


	20. Chapter 20

**Shit. I'm so sorry for the extremely long wait! But I've been so busy - I really haven't had the time to write. And everytime I do, something pops up and distracts me...  
But! School's out - I'm finally on vacation! :D Well, it's just like, two months; but still! Not to mention, I have a new laptop and time to write now :D And my dear parents can't really nag at me, 'cause I paid the laptop myself AND my grades have improved! HA! Hrm. Sorry.  
Weeell... this chapter kinda sucks. But I assure you, there really _will_ be an update real soon! If not - if not then, uh, nag at me, or something xD  
I'm sure there was something else I wanted to say here, but I forgot... damn. Oh, well.  
Disclaimer: My last name isn't Horowitz.  
____________________________________________________________________________________________**

Picking the lock was too easy. Really, Wolf should have know better.

Then again, he _was_ SAS; Alex figured that while spies and agents usually relied on overrated, complicated security systems – despite half of their job being getting _around_similar systems – soldiers tended to not trust "technology" and instead keep guns underneath their pillows.

Alex closed the door as quietly as he could, but seeing as he was about to collapse, it wasn't even near quiet enough. But he hardly noticed, as he stumbled on his toes (how he managed that, _will_ remain a mystery), heading for the bedroom.

He was just so _tired_; thoroughly exhausted... if he stopped now, he would most likely fall asleep standing.

Just a "reconnoiter" mission, his ass! Hell _no_, it wasn't. "It's not dangerous", they said. "All you've got to do is watch them from afar and try to get the location of the prisoners", they said. Not to mention the usual "You're the only one who can do this"-crap. MI6 could go and shove their lame lies and bad excuses up a place where the sun didn't shine. And Alex would gladly help them with that.

Realizing, somewhere in the back of his mind, that Wolf would most likely notice another presence in the apartment when he woke up and then barge into Alex's room shouting and waving a gun, he decided to leave a note for his "caretaker", explaining that it was just him, Alex, and that he was back.

The teen found a pen and a piece of paper on the counter. He fought to write the gathering of letters – "_Sleeping. /Alx._"– hoping that it would suffice.

As Alex yawned and turned to keep stumbling toward his room, he felt something behind him; on instinct, he spun around and kicked. Though he was too exhausted to bring up any real force behind it.

"Cub!" Wolf had no problem dodging the kick, despite having just rolled out of bed _and_ being slightly off guard; he hadn't really expected to see Alex here _now_. Not to mention the kid _must_ have picked the lock, which angered Wolf. Slightly. He was still a bit too shocked to properly react like he usually did.

"Oh. Wolf." the teen relaxed; he knew he shouldn't be so careless, and he _definitely_ shouldn't drop his guard so completely, but he was just so tired...

Wolf, surprised by the response he had received (not to mention Alex's state; it was obvious he wasn't very... alert), just stared at the teen. Until his curiosity/anger got the better of him.

"Where the hell have you been? When did you get back? Why the _hell _didn't you knock!?"

"Wolf, I'm... I'm tired. I haven't in slept the last forty-nine... hours..." Alex failed to smother a yawn. He was slurring slightly and inwardly cursed the jet-lag that topped it all off.

"What--" Wolf started, but shook his head and sighed. The kid was tired; Eric wasn't going to strangle him for information. Now. "Go to bed, Cub."

Alex looked slightly surprised, though he wasn't really about to question it, so he nodded. And yawned _again _– he had yawned so many times the last few hours, it was honestly impossible to keep count on how many times by now. Not to mention his jaws were going sore. Hm.

The teen rubbed his eyes and let a hand go through his hair. Wolf had probably never seen Alex so... so _vulnerable_ before; he had never expected the spy to ever show this side... he really looked like a kid.

"Oh, and Wolf?" Alex murmured, somewhat blearily.

"Yeah?"

"Don't call anyone. _Anyone_. Alright?"

Wolf looked a bit taken aback – could the kid read minds, or _what_? – but nodded and watched Alex simply keep stumbling toward his bedroom. Eric was pretty positive he had never seen the teen like this; Alex was wiped. Sighing, he massaged the bridge of his nose.

"Good night, Cub." The SAS agent said, not loudly, but knowing that the teen would hear it anyway – unless said teen was asleep already. Wouldn't surprise him.

~~.._..~~

Wolf didn't get much sleep after that; he remained awake for at least another hour and a half, just in case of... something. He wasn't quite sure what, though.

When he woke up after those few hours of sleep, he rang his "work" and told them that he needed to take a day off; as soon as he mentioned his "ward", everything was fine and they asked if he needed to take the rest of the week off as well. Eric couldn't quite work out why, but assumed that Alex's employers had something to do with it.

He decided to call Snake, as well – Snake was the most sensible one, out of him, Eagle, Fox and... James – sternly ordering him to _absolutely not_ come here, no matter the reason.

"... and remember to pass it on to the others." Wolf grumbled. "Got me?"

"_Yeah, yeah, sure... but what is this about, Eric?_" Snake did try to simply sound casual, but suspiciousness seeped into his voice. "_Does it have anything to do with Cub? Is he back?_"

Wold deliberated whether or not he should tell Snake; while Snake was a bit of a doctor – well, he had _some _knowledge of medical... stuff – and did deserve to know, Cub had told him not to tell anyone.

So it was either telling a man he had known and trusted for almost five years, or keeping quiet for the sake of a kid he didn't properly know and wasn't entirely sure he could trust (hey, the kid _was _MI6; and he had heard too many times that he shouldn't trust agents...).

For most, the choice would be obvious... and Eric wondered what the hell he was thinking when he chose the latter.

"No, it's nothing. But I'm going to be busy today." he cleared his throat. "But if you feel like coming over for dinner..."

"_You mean _making_ the dinner,_" John stated dryly. He sighed. "_I'll come over about then, okay? And Ben and Martin will probably come, too. I'm just wondering what I can do to make them stay away..._" he sighed again.

"Oh, you'll come up with something." Wolf grinned... well, wolfishly. "Bye, John."

"_Bye, Eric..._" Snake finished the talk with yet another sigh, which was abruptly cut off as Wolf hung up.

He walked into the living room and sat down. He passed half an hour watching a rerun of some old, crappy soap opera, but couldn't really bring himself to concentrate on it. Not that he could actually get any of it anyway... but still.

How the _hell_ was Eric supposed to sit here calmly, when he _knew_ that Cub – whom had been mysteriously "away" for the past two weeks and then _broken into his apartment at half past two in the morning – _was sleeping in a room, _in_ said apartment?

Wolf had no idea what had happened to the kid, and since it had been so dark yesterday – or rather... this morning? – he hadn't even been able to see if the kid was alright! All he knew, was that the kid had been completely _wiped._ Then again, the kid was alive, wasn't he? That was most certainly a good sign...

Wolf's thoughts/musings were interrupted as the phone rang. Not wanting to wake the sleeping teen, he hurried back into the hall and picked up the phone.

And as he heard who it was, the person who had called, he realized that this was one creepy coincidene. Probably the creepiest coincidene he had eperienced. Or he was just dealing with a psychic woman...

"_Hello, this is Jack_." the American woman sounded very relaxed; she couldn't possibly know that Alex had been away, then. "_Is that you, Eric?"_

"Yes." Wolf growled shortly, hoping that she wouldn't want to talk to Cub; he didn't want to wake the kid, nor explain to her that he had been away.

Jack misinterpreted his curt answer, and assumed that he was angry ( – and we all wonder why, now don't we – ) and sighed, muttering something that sounded like "_someone_ is a real Mr Grumpy-pants today", under her breath.

"So, uh, how have you been?" Wolf tried – really, he did – to sound polite and genuinely interested.

"_Aw, I've been fine so far,_" Jack replied, the smile honestly _audible_. "_Been to a lot of places already. I'm currently in the South of France – and man, I love it! I have to come here with Alex sometime... he'd love it..._" she sighed dreamily. "_Wait, he's been here already. Hm. Well, it's still beautiful and warm and... french. Obviously._"

Eric wasn't sure if he should smile and chuckle or something, or perhaps raise an eyebrow and keep quiet. He _had_ heard Cub talk about Jack's strange way of, uh... acting and talking sometimes. The kid had also mentioned a very odd sense of humour, and – there was no point denying it – Wolf knew he could be a bit slow and not get others' jokes right away sometimes. Which had, in the past, landed him in numerous awkward situations.

Well, the American didn't let him think about a response for very long, but kept talking.

"_How have _you_ been doing, then?_" she asked, a thin thread of worry sneaking its way into her voice with the next questions. "_Is Alex alright? Keeping out of trouble? Is he behaving_?"

"Cub's, uh, fine. Doesn't say much," Eric answered, slightly hesitatingly. But the hesitance could only be heard if you were really listening for it. "We get along well. His Austrian _friend,_" oh, Wolf wanted to call _that_ kid a pervert _so_ badly... "is here. Came a while ago, also been hanging around the house."

"_Oh – you mean James?_" Jack giggled. "_They're so sweet, the two of them... and to hear that he's there is such a relief. Alex have a way of opening up more when he's around..._" she sighed, seeming relieved and satisfied.

They – mostly Jack, really – chatted for a short while, about nothing particular. Wolf figured she'd get along well with Eagle and James; all of them were obviously quite fond of talking.

The conversation was coming to its end, and if Eric got to say so himself, it had all went rather smoothly; no awkward silences, not too many questions and didn't have to say much. Ah, if it only had remained that simple.

"_Oh, and before I go; may I talk to Alex a little? It's really strange, not talking to him reguraly; since we've lived together for so long, I'm used to having him around most of the time,_" Jack sighed. _"I suppose it's gonna be good when I eventually come home and it returns to normal..._" her voice trailed off, as if she was thinking about something else. Wolf was unsure as of what to say. "_Well, can you call him over?_"

"C--Alex's asleep..." the SAS soldier started, carefully. "And I don't know when he'll wakw up."

"_Asleep?_" Jack echoed. There was a long silence. "_They got him again, didn't they? You let them take him away._"

Wolf was shocked to hear this; where'd the accusations come from? He – _he_ had nothing to do with this! Nothing to do with MI6! Eric didn't get a chance to tell Jack this, though, because the kept talking.

"_How is he? Is he badly hurt? When did he return? For long has he been gone? What'd they threaten him with, this time? I can't believe... I can't believe they made him do it when I'm not even there...!_"

"He returned last night, was away for two weeks," Wolf muttered, gruffly. "I have no idea what's happened and I couldn't see any injuries yesterday."

"_But--_" Jack started, but he cut her off.

"Cub's gonna be fine. I'll make sure he calls you as soon as he wakes up, alright?" the truth was, Eric really didn't want to deal with an emotional woman right now. Well, he _never_ really wanted to deal with emotional women, but sometimes it couldn't be helped.

"_Promise? You'll make him call?_" Jack asked. She sounded close to tears, determined and angry at the same time. Wolf muttered "yes", and she gave a sigh of relief.

"_Take good care of him, Eric. Make sure he eats, ask him about his missions and look for any wounds he tried to hide... if he doesn't speak up, call James in, or threaten with doing just that; it usually works..._" as she gave him a bunch of advices, Wolf started to wonder not only what Alex had been through on his missions, but Jack as well.

"I'll take care of him, Jack," Eric hurried to say when she stopped to breathe. "I assure you, he's gonna be taken care of. My unit is here, as well, and we're all quite... close." he had officially returned to growling his words. "And Sna-- John, he is a medic.."

"_I-I see. Well, I should go, and so should you, I guess,_" Jack took a deep breath. "_thank you, Eric. Bye._"

"Bye." he replied, and once again hung up.

Wolf sighed and dragged himself back to the couch. It was barely past eight in the morning, and he was already tired. Cub knew damn well how to screw thing up, didn't he. Not the mention the kid hadn't even actually done anything! But so many things concerned him in one way or another, and stirred commotion in the oddest ways...

Wolf cursed and shook his head. Where did _that_ come from?

He didn't get time to dwell on his own out-of-character thoughts, seeing as he suddenly heard a door being opened and closed, light steps across the hall, and again a door being opened and closed. A few minutes later, Eric heard water running.

Alex had awoken.  
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**That was one dramatic way to end it, eh? I was grinning like a moron when I wrote it. Now, I _know _that the conversation was really boring and too long, but she's barely been in the story. Figured I had to make up for that in one way or another, so I wrote about her now, which means she'll just be mentioned - again - in the nearest future. Or something. Hm...**


	21. Chapter 21

**Hello, friends! You have no idea how much I love you :D Alerts and favs and reviews... you truly are incredible x3  
Well, here's an update. I assure you, that I will update again as soon as I can - but I have another chapter of another story to write, too... but it will never, _ever_ take me as long to update as it did before! Promise! K? xP  
I remember now what I meant to say before! You see, the program I use to write in, kind of doesn't obey me like it used to - so there's no spellcheck, and I'm a bit too tired to reread at the moment... so if there's any really big errors or something, you know why. And feel free to point them out.  
I _think_ that was that... but I'm not sure.  
Ah, well. Btw, excuse Wolf for being boring in this chapter. Couldn't help it -.-  
Disclaimer: I don't know anything. Really. Rather sad, isn't it?  
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Alex groaned.

To say that _some_ part of him was aching or hurting would be wrong; it was more like _he_ hurt. All of him.

Of course it was worse on his left side; while he had managed to avoid actually getting stabbed, he hadn't managed to avoid the knife/scythe-thingy entirely – it was no deep wound, but it was long; from a bit under his left armpit, down a bit and then it swung toward his navel. It would be a thin scar to add to his growing collection. Perhaps the oddest looking one, so far.

And the damn thing stung like hell. Not to mention he was feeling incredibly sick, had a splitting headache, and the sprained wrist he had fallen asleep _on _and the bruises that overall, like after most missions, littered his body.

Then again, he had had worse, so he shouldn't really be complaining, should he?

Alex sighed and listened to Wolf talk on the phone, presumably with Jack; he said something about "his unit", followed by "John" and "medic" – there was a pause; Jack obviously spoke – and then a simple "bye".

The teen missed Jack terribly, but to talk with her now would be too hard. She obviously knew that he had been on a mission – he had wanted to keep that from her, just this once – and would fuss and worry and cry and curse and demand to know what he had done and been through _this _time. And Alex was too tired to deal with that right now.

So he remained in the bed, listening to Wolf's every movement and sigh. He seemed to sigh a lot lately.

After a while, Alex decided that lying about in the bed all day wouldn't do, so he forced himself out of it and walked around the room, in a vain attempt to loosen up sore and stiff muscles. He hadn't slept for very long, but old habit die hard, and some internal clock awoke him and wouldn't let him fall sleep again. At least not very soon.

Alex sighed. Wanting to stall having to face Wolf so soon, he decided to shower; so he sneaked out of his room, carefully closed the door and pattered over to the bathroom.

He slowly removed the bandages that were wrapped around the upper part of his body and the one around his wrist and entered the shower. He hissed as hot water washed over his wounds and bruises; but the pain faded rather quickly – he was a bit too used to showering with fresh wounds than he'd like to admit – and he could finally just enjoy being _able_ the bathe, which he hadn't during the past week.

The fake tan – a really disgusting, brownish creme that had also prevented him from actually getting much of a _real_ tan – would disappear if he had showered more than once, and, since he was supposed to be a sixteen-year-old guy named Pedro that had lived in Peru the past five years, that wouldn't be too good.

It was nice to get the creme off and wash the hair dye out. Though the latter didn't go out entirely – it had been dyed so dark, almost black, which was a strong contrast from his naturally fair hair – so even with the "miracle-shampoo" from Smithers, some dye stuck and left Alex's hair a couple of shades darker than it usually was.

Eventually, Alex had to face the fact that he couldn't put off facing Wolf any longer, so he stepped out of the shower, dried himself carefully and did his best to put the bandages back like they had been before.

The teen pattered back to his room, dressed and got out again. He was feeling a little better than before, the warm water had managed to soothe his aching body somewhat, but was far from "fine".

Wolf had rushed up from the couch and was standing in front Alex, before the teen had even reached the kitchen.

They were both quiet for a long while, just staring into each other's eyes, both secretly wondering what the other would say.

Alex was the one to talk first, though Wolf was the first one to make a sound. How? Well, Wolf didn't really _talk_...

"Cub! What the _hell_ happened to your _hair_!? Why the _hell_'s your arm bandaged!? You better give me a straight answer, got it? I won't buy the damn _confidential-crap_! So speak up, kid!"

… he was _yelling. _Too much time at Brecon Beacons with the Sergerant was finally showing.

"I've been on a mission, Wolf," the teen answered, carefully, calmly. "I was uncercover in Peru. I had to dye my hair."

"That doesn't explain the arm!" the SAS agent roared. It was a wonder the neighbours weren't here knocking on the door, wondering what on Earth was going on here, yet; then again, they were probably used to it by now. "And why the _bloody_ hell were _you_ in _Peru_!?"

Alex sighed and rolled his eyes, walking past Wolf and into the kitchen. Not daring to eat, since his stomach would probably refuse the food and throw it right up again, he settled on simply drinking water.

"I was a part of another agent's cover." he explained, tiredly, choosing not to explain his arm. Wasn't it obvious?

"Then why the hell were you injured?" Wolf was starting to understand that he didn't need to yell at the teen; the boy would talk anyway. But his way of showing that he cared was by raising his voice...

Then again, his way of showing most emotions was by yelling.

"Because the other agent got himself shot," Alex muttered, wearily, frowning and wrinkling his nose at the memory. "shot three times in the stomach; he bled to death."

Wolf was positively taken aback. His eyebrows shot up, and he stared, somewhat incredulously at the kid.

"So I had to finish the mission." Alex finished with a sigh and took a sip of water.

"Which _was_...?" Wolf wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer; he didn't _want_ to imagine what the kid had been going through, practically alone... he saw the arm, he saw that the kid was still wiped, he had heard that the kid had seen a man _bleed to death _– the question now was if it could only getter better or only get worse.

"Locate and watch an organization that deals with drugs, weapons and slave trade – the usual. Or should I say _dealed_..." the teen muttered, shrugging lightly. "They sold clown costumes and doors as a side job." Alex frowned slighty, once again thinking back, as he said the next words.

"Their leader had a really creepy fetish for kimonos, katanas and cupcakes..."

"What the _hell_, kid?"

"It might not sound so bad, but believe me, when you were there... it _was_ damn creepy." the spy took another sip of water, looking bitter.

Wolf sighed and shook his head, disbelief clear in his eyes.

"Sure..." Eric muttered, settling on bringing it up again when the others were there. "I'm not Snake, but shouldn't you _eat _something?" he added, half-heartedly.

"Can't." Alex answered, stretching his arms carefully.

"Why?" the SAS agent asked, slightly annoyed that the kid wouldn't just explain right away. Wolf assumed that it was either because the kid couldn't take a hint, or just liked to annoy people. Probably the latter.

"I was poisoned." the spy explained, flippantly, shrugging.

Silence.

"_WHAT_!? WHY THE _HELL_ DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT EARLIER!? DO YOU HAVE A BLOODY _DEATHWISH_!?" Alex got a vague sense of déjà vu, as his temporary guardian stood up, face flushed from (assumed) anger.

Wolf kept yelling for a while, mostly threats regarding what would happen to Alex if he ever kept something like this from him, Wolf, again and that the teen was a completely idiotic imbecile for even being poisoned to start with. And if you were an "idiotic imbecile", you were damn stupid.

When he was finally done – Alex was sure he was _drenched_ in spit, which was... _quite_ disgusting – he was breathing heavily and glaring daggers at poor Alex.

Ah, yes, déjà vu.

"... you definitely shouldn't hang out so much with the Sergeant. He's rubbing off on you."

With that, the spy rose to his feet and wandered back to his room, admiring his own boldness.

~~.._..~~

"Wait, wait, didn't you say you were in _Peru_?" Eagle asked, frowning. Alex couldn't believe he had to go through this _again_ – first with Wolf, then James had stormed the building, and now the rest of K-Unit. Not to mention the report he'd written on it.

"_Yes_." the spy answered, tiredly; really, he was exhausted. He hadn't slept much, and then to deal with _any_ member of K-Unit was tiring – especially Snake in mommy-_medic-_mode, whom had forced Alex through a _really_ thorough check-up...

"But if he liked katanas and kimonos, shouldn't he be in _Japan_? Or just _some_ Asian country? What the hell was he doing in _Peru_?" Eagle exclaimed, bewildered.

"I won't even _try_ to understand how his mind works." Alex said, firmly. "And, James, can you please let go of my arm?"

Said boy had been holding on quite tightly to Alex's arm – the one without a sprained wrist – constantly since he had arrived at the apartment. James was so relieved the other teen was alive and, more or less, whole and well – he had returned much worse before.

In fact, James had been so glad that he had dared to hug Alex in _three minutes_ in front of Wolf! Which was pretty much _asking_ for an early death.

The two boys had, after a lot of manipulating and presuading on Alex's part, "received" permission to go to Alex's room and just hang out and talk, so that James could make sure his friend really _was_ alright.

"There's no way I'm letting go." the Austrian boy said matter-of-factly. Fox raised an eyebrow.

"If Alex wants you to let go, then you better let go, kid..." the SAS-gone-MI6 agent said, quietly, trying to seem menacing.

"But – what... when did they actually get an opportunity to posion you, then?" Eagle asked, frowning slightly, ignoring his former teammate and James. "You were held captive for four days, and it wasn't with the food they gave you... you weren't poisoned before, and your grand finale was to set the place on fire..."

"It wasn't like I could just snap my fingers and the whole place caught fire," Alex pointed out, somehow amused by all this. Eagle was trying so hard to grasp it all. "and my wrist didn't sprain itself..."

"Oh, so you had to fight your way out?" the tall man asked, eyes wide and mouth left agape in awe. "This is sounding more and more like some action movie..."

"If if had only been that simple..." the teen muttered, sending an annoyed glare sideways, at James and Fox who were getting noisy.

"You can eat soup, can't you, Alex?" Snake asked, softly. His gentleness was welcomed. "Or would porridge be better?"

"I'm pretty sure I can eat both, so it doesn't really matter..." Alex replied.

"When are you going back to school?" Snake wondered as he started to set the table. He pushed those in the way away and used his surprisingly impressive glare to finally put an end to Fox's and James' bickering.

"I was planning to go back tomorrow..." the spy barely got to finish the sentence before... the response came.

"Why? I thought teen's preferred to skip school. You have an excellent reason..."

"Aw, why, Al? Take the day off with me--" the rest was muffled by Fox's hand.

"I really don't think that's a wise descision...--"

"Hell no! You're not going anywhere!" ah, Wolf. What a surprise.

Alex groaned, watching the others exasperatedly.

"I won't do anything straining and I'll skip P.E..." he stated. "It's not like I'll break or anything."

There was a short silence.

Then the protests started again.

The spy sighed and let a hand go through his hair. Time to use his spy-skills again, then.

~~.._..~~

Alex ended up getting his will through after all.

They (being K-Unit and James) did have some conditions, though; like driving and picking him up to and from school. Not strain himself or pick a fight. Small things like that, but Alex figured he'd just have to deal with it; they had had James on their side, after all, and said boy knew Alex's tactics too well, so he couldn't have expected to have it his was entirely.

To his surprise, Tom wasn't the first one to greet him when he arrived – Penny was.

"Rider! I have no idea where you've been or why you look even hotter now, but welcome back!" she grinned and giggled in a really shrill voice.

"Uh, hi, uh, thanks?" Alex replied hesitatingly.

"I'm so glad you're back! And what a timing you have!" she giggled again; a sound which Alex was already sick of. "The roles of the play are all settled and done! Your rehearsals starts tomorrow."

The spy stiffened – he had completely forgotten about that. Shit.

Penny took in his expression greedily, tormenting him a little while longer with her knowledge and his lack of it.

Finally, she decided to let him in on what everyone else already knew.

"Oh, don't worry, Rider," Penny giggled once again. "what do you think of me? Harris was offically selected for the part of Juliet."

Alex breathed a sigh of relief, a malicious grin quickly plastering itself on his face. Oh, was he going to tease Tom for this...-- wait. Didn't she say "_your_ rehearsals"...?

The grin faded, but Penny's only grew, as she saw that her previous words properly caught up with him now.

"I said I'd get you out of the role of Juliet, not out of the play entirely..." she stated, her grin turning smug. "You, Alex Rider," Pennt was enjoying every second of this. "got the part of Romeo Montague."


	22. Chapter 22

**I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry.  
In the last AN I was like "I'll never take this long to update again, I promise!" but-but-but- I suppose you've already noticed it's been like, _months _since I updated last?  
Gosh. I'm really sorry. Life got in the way; not only did I have writer's block for ages - a horrifying experience, I assure you - but then I had to do this and that and school started and it's just been _intense_.  
I could sit here and apologize for this all day... night... morning, or whatever - but I won't. I did write an explanation on my profile; AHA!  
...hrm.  
Now, this is a short chapter. But I've started on the next one - it's almost a thousand words! - and I'm gonna keep writing. I'm not really going to school next week or the week after that; I'll be taking a special writing course, and then we have one week off, so I'm quite confident I'll get to writing more. Okay?**

**Oh, and I just wanna say that _wow_, I love you! I still get mails every other day, with favs and alerts, and that makes me really happy :) And, seriously - over three hundred reviews? _Shit_! :D  
I'd really like to start my "special thanks to"-list, but I think it would turn out too long. But I must say that ObsessivelyOdd is great. Thank her! (Hrm, thank you!)  
I've been so mean, slightly neglecting her pm's and she does is helping me... one of the main reason I truly got to writing again, are a couple of nice, subtle hints there :)**

**Um... it's over three. I'm tired and I have no spellcheck and I know it's short, but I just wanted to post this and have it done with.  
Well, Wolf is not as mad as he's been before! xD  
I should really stop writing now, shouldn't I?**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Alex... he... the part of Romeo Montague... in the... play?

Wait. _No_. No.

_Damn._

"I-I'm _Romeo_?" Alex exclaimed, incredulously. "You can't be serious--"

"You heard me, Rider," Penny grinned smugly, looking delighted as the bell chose this exact moment to ring. "Why don't you ask your Juliet more about the rehearals, hm? I have to run. Bye, Rider!" another shrill giggle and she was gone.

Alex cursed under his breath and hurried to his locker, grabbed a couple of books, hoping desperately that he had taken the right ones, and ran to his classroom.

He slipped inside with only seconds to spare, sliding into his seat quietly, praying that no one would talk to him, teacher as well as student.

Tom had noticed him, smiling at first, but then he obviously remembered the play again and the smile disappeared, replaced with a glare and a slight pout. Alex smirked; okay, so maybe he could live with starring as Romeo, when Tom had to play Juliet. Becase that was, by far, the worst part one could have gotten; you could practically wave at your pride and dignity as it flew away in a swirling dance of tights and strange love poems. There would be nothing left.

Alex didn't pay too much attention to Mr Simmons when said teacher spoke, and before he knew it, the lesson was over and he was standing next to Tom, beside the shorter boy's locker. He had no idea how he had gotten there, though. Then again, it _could_ have something to do with the hand around his wrist...

"You, mate," Tom muttered, his head inside the depths of his locker. "are a bastard."

"Oh? How so?" Alex smirked slightly, freeing his wrist and leaning against the locker next to his friend's.

"First, I try to make you popular again, with the play and all that," the shorter boy started, getting his head out of the locker, closed it and turned to glare half-heartedly at Alex. "then, I go out of my way to see where you suddenly disappeared off to; you didn't tell me or warn me and why the hell did you do it? Without Jack, they must've had _something_ else to use on you, eh, otherwise you hadn't done it!"

Was it _that_ easy to figure out...? Not only James, but Tom, too. Ah, well, they knew him rather well, didn't they?

"And finally – you had Penny manipulating the school and made _me_ Juliet! You barely even had to lift a finger, and suddenly, _I'm_ the one who has to wear a wig and a dress!" Tom finished, pointing an accusing finger at Alex, who couldn't stop the wolfish grin from wriggling its way onto his face.

"Sometimes I'm just that awesome, aren't I?" the spy shrugged, waving one hand off-handedly.

He could really _feel_ Tom's glare. Honestly.

Alex's grin melted into a slight, maybe teasing – depended on how you saw it – smile.

"Well, I'm Romeo, right? It's not much better." he pointed out, as they started to walk toward his locker.

Tom sighed deeply, dropping the glare.

"Yeah, suppose you're right there, mate." suddenly _Tom_ was the one with the grin. "I'm just glad _you're_ my Romeo!" he winked, causing Alex to roll his eyes. "Plus, you'll be the one with the tights, right? I wonder if they'll let me go nude under the dress..."

Alex raised an eyebrow and wrinkled his nose, wondering what was wrong with his friend.

Maybe it wouldn't result in Tom losing his dignity, if just because he was _he._ He was Tom Harris, after all.

~~.._..~~

Alex was very surprised that he managed to keep the play and his part in it secret for one whole week before K-Unit and James found out.

Thay they found out at all was Tom's fault. Of course.

Tom had made up some ridiculous reason to "drop in" at Wolf's apartment and say hi. Once he had stepped inside, Alex knew there was no way to get him to leave until he had either eaten or done what he came for. Tom did both, choosing to start talking about the rehearsals during dinner.

It was cramped around the table; it was bad enough with four grown men – an SAS unit nonetheless – plus two teenagers, and even if it was just one more person on top of that, it made quite a difference. They all practically sat _on_ each other. Tom's constant babbling only made it worse.

"And that Andrews is a _horrible_ actor, don't you think, Al? I mean, to start with, he's built like a monkey and talks like a... like a..." Tom took a sip of water while looking for the right word. "...well, I don't know what he talks like, but not like a Nurse. Not the Nurse he's supposed to be, at least."

Alex had started to panic by "actor" but, unable to do anything – that would be even more suspicious – he had just kept quiet while trying to come up with as many ways as possible to kill Tom after this.

If K-Unit found out, they would never let him live it down.

"Whenever did you see Andrews act, _Tom_?" the spy tried instead, giving his shorter friend a meaningful look. He didn't dare to try kicking under the table, in case he kicked the wrong leg.

"What are you talking about, Alex, mate?" Tom asked innocently. "I know we're still just in the beginning of the play, just tried the first scenes, but you're Romeo – you're in from the very beginning!"

And so Alex was doomed.

He was a bit surprised when Wolf, after hearing that his ward would be playing Romeo in "Romeo and Juliet" written by no one less than William Shakespeare himself, burst into laughter. It really was a _fit_ of laughter; Wolf couldn't seem to stop, bending over, slamming his hand on the table several times, the other hand on his stomach and trouble breathing. It was the sort of laughter that tended to start over as soon as you managed to calm down.

Alex was not the only one shocked by the sight though; it triggered Eagle and James too. Snake was chuckling, despite himself, while Fox was taking pictures of it, and Tom just sat there, looking very pleased with himself.

The fit did end, although it was later rather than sooner. Wolf sobered enough to take a long look at Alex, signs of laughter still evident on his face, and question it.

"What the hell, Cub?" he didn't sound angry in the least. More like _incredibly_ amused. God, Alex would never hear the end of this... "You're Romeo? The silly lad in tights and far-fetched love declarations?"

"At least he got out of the part of Juliet, eh, right?" Fox stated more than asked, his wide grin matching Wolf's.

"It wasn't my choice. I had no say," Alex muttered, resisting the urge to groan. "they did it while I was away."

"Pity you're not Juliet," James sighed, trying – but failing – to smother his grin. "would've loved seeing you in a dress. I think it'd suit you, you know? And mascara would do _wonders_ on you, Al."

"Oh, jut because you tried mascara, it doesn't mean that _everyone_ gets eyes like a woman with it."

Alex's retort had the SAS unit laughing again, and James, not being one to be embarrassed, only smiled, looking mock-innocent and batting his eyelashes at them all.

"Then who's the poor guy who'll have to be _Juliet_, then?" Eagle asked, speaking with a shrill voice to 'prove his point', or something.

"That," Tom suddenly spoke up again, wrapping an arm around Alex's shoulders. "would be me."

Silence.

Then they burst out laughing again, and all the young spy could do was sit there, feeling miserable and blush. Tom grinned smugly, tightening his grip on Alex and saying one line or another, trying to urge his friend into replying. He gave up, though, when he noticed James heated glare; instead, he settled on provoking the boy even further, by moving even closer to Alex, holding his arm and resting his head against the other boy's shoulder.

"Oh, just got yourself a rival, eh, James?" Fox said between laughs, elbowing the boy lightly and throwing a meaningful look at the two boys on the other side of the table.

"You better hurry if you wanna get him first! Isn't there a kiss in that play?" Eagle added, wriggling his eyebrows "suggestively", grinning.

Alex did tried his best to just ignore them. Hey, it could have been worse, couldn't it?

At least that was what he told himself.

**

* * *

**

**Did this turn out really, really weird? **


	23. Chapter 23

**Hello again! :D Didn't take as long this time! Aha! xD  
Well, I wanted to write a longer chapter, but I just realized that it's mostly a filler and... well... um. Yeah. _Sorry, but I think that some characters might be slightly OOC :(  
_So, I'm what they call a "night writer" - I find it much easier to write at night. More than half of what I write it written at a rather ongodly hour, or whatever. So I slip on the tangents a lot. I replace words - like "to" with "the" - and sometimes forget them alltogether... just so you know. And I still have no spellcheck. OpenOffice doesn't like me.**

I'm working on the next chapter. Can't say when I'll post it, but I /am/ working on it. Having some minor trouble with the action, that's all.  
Oh, well...  
Ah, and I haven't replied to any reviews! I'm really sorry, I usually like to do that, but I never got to it. Sorry :/ I really appreciate them all, though, and THANK YOU ALL! :D They make me happy; I can giggle and/or smile for myself for hours afterwards xD You say such sweet things x3

I think there was something more I meant to write here... oh, well, maybe next time, then.

Disclaimer: I have never and will never own Alex Rider. 

* * *

Suddenly time was passing by irrationally quickly again. Alex had no idea what was happening, except that every passing day seemed to involve a new, different blur of SAS soldiers, school, rehearsals including tights and Tom's ridiculous comments, and fending off JJ – "Jealous James" – as Eagle had come to call him.

He'd talked to Jack and, rather reluctantly, told her about the play; surprisingly enough, _Snake_ had been the one forcing him to it. He'd threatened with calling her himself if Alex didn't say it, which left Alex very few options. He still didn't like any form of interaction between Jack – one part of his life – and K-Unit – another part of his life. Not to mention, James had pointed out that Jack's personality matched Eagle's scarily much and that, if they had the chance to meet, might "hook up".

And that really scared Alex. Jack was more or less his sister; the mere thought of practically becoming family with Eagle – and the rest of K-Unit with him; they were all stuck together, take one and you get the whole bunch – terrified him.

But it was all quite nice, in a way. It was in no way "normal", but the lack of danger and sense of familarity was comforting. Alex was getting used to his teammates company, and having James around was fun. Tom would always be there either way, but as Alex was really back at Brooklands now, it was much easier and habits formed. The young spy knew that habits got you killed, but he shoved that little piece of stated fact from his other life to the back of his mind and enjoyed the present the best he could...

But to be honest, it was a little bit hard with grown men teasing him about a certain play at every corner.

~~.._..~~

"If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: my lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss." Alex read, looking up at Tom after every fifth word. God, this was horrible, but he was actually starting to get the hang of it.

It was the first time they were actually playing the whole thing through in one go, and although they had removed some scenes and made it a lot shorter than it originally was supposed to be, they were still just in the fifth scene of the first act.

"Good pilgrim," Tom read, very enthusiastically. He loved this; he had recently discovered how enjoyable acting really was and it showed. "you do wrong with your hand too much, which mannerly devotion shows in this; for saints have hands that pilgrims' hands to touch, and palm to palm in holy palmers' kiss."

But he was the only one _that_ enthusiastic. Sure, all the boys did their best and seemed to have fun, but _god_, it was really long winded at times. And embarrassing.

"Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?" Alex asked, looking at his Juliet "tenderly" – according to their drama teacher he was _always_ supposed to look at Tom tenderly. But it was damn hard, knowing what Tom was _really_ thinking and how it would look when they were actually perfoming this in front of an _audience_...

"Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer." Tom replied.

"O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do;" Alex was finding it a bit hard to say all this without snorting or chuckling embarrassedly. "They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn into despair."

"Saints do not move,"said _Juliet_. "though grant for prayers' sake."

"Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take. Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged." _now_ the spy had a hard time not blushing. For the love of... this was a _serious_ play. But he couldn't believe that people said this without feeling awkward.

"Then have my lips, the sin that they have took..."

Tom saw Alex's inner struggle and stubburnly fight down his blush. This was one of the reason why he found this so very funny.

Now, this was supposed to be a kissing scene, but there was no way Alex would agree to that, plus, the teacher had said that all audiences wouldn't take to boys kissing so well.

That had caused a slight problem, since the girls in their class had decided that this was a scene they couldn't skip, so Stephen had come up with this _brilliant_ idea to make Juliet half-japanese, so Tom could use a kimono and hide behind the clever, little fan-thingy.

Alex concentrated on his lines, so as to not think about his latest mission.

Either way, it was a good solution. The boys just had to be rather close to each other and making silly small kissing noises.

"Sin from thy lips? O, trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again." Alex's voice faltered slightly and he cleared his throat, resisting the urge to glare at the Juliet he was supposed to watch lovingly.

"You kiss by the book." Tom's tone was too teasing for this to be just about he play.

This was when Andrews – aka the "Nurse" – entered the stage, telling Juliet that her mother wished to see her. Alex sighed heavily; the _grand premiere_ was next Friday and they still had a lot to do.

But he wasn't half as worried about the play as he was about K-Unit; God forbid they saw this. It would be the end of him, he was sure, if any of them saw _this_.

~~.._..~~

Thursday afternoon. The play was one week and one day away.

Alex figured he deserved a break, and so he and James were sitting on a bench in a park, throwing bread _at_ the ducks instead of _to_ them. It was amusing.

"Dad's been nagging again," James started when the conversation about the oddness of the male pregnancy among sea horses had died down. "He wants me to come home."

"James, you know you can't stay here forever," Alex replied softly. "You're bound to go back sooner or later."

"Al, you're supposed to be on _my_ side!" the taller boy whined. "Not on dad's! I wanna stay here; this time has seriously been _great_. It's never boring, something new every day – and even your SAS guys are nice! I really thought they'd be much worse, with your descriptions of them."

"They're different when you're around," Alex muttered. "and... they used to be worse."

"See? I have a good influence over them!" James grinned widely. "But that wasn't what I wanted to talk about. Um. Yeah, so, I'm staying until the play either way, just so you know."

"Do you really like embarrassing me _that_ much?" the spy asked, resisting the urge to groan. "It's bad enough as it is! You'd do me a huge favor if you'd stay away. Do. Not. Go. _Please_."

"You can try, but it won't work! I'm so going." James grinned widely. "Besides, gotta keep on eye on Harris, don't I? Never know what he'll try."

"For god's sake, James, Tom wouldn't--" Alex started, but was interrupted.

"Okay, I've got it already – you're sure that Harris won't do anything, I know." the Austrian boy shook his head and sighed. "But, you know, once I go back to Austria, I... I don't know when I'll get time to come here again. You're my best friend, Al – don't give that look! It's sappy, I know, but I'll miss you."

"You've been watching bad soap opera's with Eagle too much." Alex stated and rolled his eyes. "We've been through this before, James, it's not like we're never gonna see each other again. We got along just fine before you came here, too, right? And we can keep that up. And there's still those holiday's you and Jack insist to pack so full of stuff to do I'm more tired after the holiday than I was before it..."

"Yeah. Suppose you're right." James murmured, eyes glued to two ducks racing after a piece of bread. The mood fell and the boy could practically feel the sudden tension in the air. There was something else James wanted to say, and if Alex knew him right, it would come any second now...

"It's just that, sometimes I never know when I'll see you again," ah, here they came, the unstoppable words tripping over each other as they streamed out of James' mouth. "What with your pass-time occupation and all, you know, I never know for sure when we'll talk or see ach other again... you know?"

Alex heaved a deep sigh and looked his friend in the eyes.

"You're not ususally this pessimistic," he stated. "That's my job. I don't know who put these thoughts in your head, but just... forget them. Such thoughts drag you down."

"Yeah, I... I guess." James grinned slightly and let a hand go through his hair. "Sorry."

"No need to aplogize," Alex replied. "Just don't say things like that again. They're depressing."

The taller boy nodded, looking from the ducks, to Alex and then back to the ducks again, grin melting into a smile. Funny how the roles could be reversed sometimes.

~~.._..~~

When Alex walked through the door, he saw Wolf hurriedly hand up and put the phone down, trying – but failing – to hide a smug grin.

The spy eyed him suspiciously, but didn't get to say anything about it, as another SAS soldier was faster and spoke first.

"Where's JJ?" Eagle asked, tilting his head to the side. He looked ridiculous, perched on the bench – he was a very tall man, his arms and legs looked all over the place.

"Went back to the hotel. He has some guy tutoring him, so that he won't get too far behind at school." Alex answered with a shrug. "What's up with Wolf?"

"What's up with him?" Fox, appearing mysteriously from Wolf's room, asked.

"He seems... _happy_. Or malicious." Alex answered, frowning slightly. "It feels... dangerous."

Ben threw a look at Wolf; said man was still grinning, and Ben just sighed.

"That look spells trouble, Alex. And since it's directed at you..." the older spy sighed, giving the teen a meaningful glance. "Let's just say it'd be wiser to be cautious around him from now on."

Alex blinked and then nodded slowly. This didn't sit well with him. What was Wolf up to? Who had he been talking to?

The teen threw a look at the clock and stated for himself that he better start with the dinner. Alex looked through the fridge, deciding that Lasagna à la Alex would be nice. Well, the "original" recipe was Ian's... then Jack had adopted it... and now Alex made it his... so the true name of it would probably be Lasagna à la Ian-Jack-Alex. Or Iajalex. Or something.

"...what were you doing in Eric's room?" Eagle asked, eyes following Fox's pacing form.

"Looking for our graduation pictures," Ben answered, stopping and grinning widely. "Lottie's been asking to see pictures of me from when I was 'little', and since I lost mine, I figured I'd look if Eric's were still intact."

"Lottie? As in little Charlotte, your cousin?" Wolf asked, sitting down by the table. He had regained his composure and didn't look as dangerous anymore. Not more that usual, in any case.

"Yeah. Angela came to visit and brought her here. Grown a lot, that girl. Still as curious as always, though." Ben grinned fondly.

"For how long have you known each other? Really?" Eagle asked, scrunching up his nose in confusion. "When I met you at the small-kiddies-army you'd already met John... but you two seems to have known each other since – since _always_!"

"We've never told you?" Ben looked surprised. "Eric and I went to school together. Neighbours since ten; it was quite an experience, living next to him and his big, chaotic family."

"Mine was chaotic?" Wolf snorted. "Nothing compared to yours. Your mother was mental."

"She had her... obsessions." the MI6 operative admitted, sounding slightly uneasy. "But when she had both of her feet down on the earth, she was the best mother ever. Even better than yours."

"Don't start with that again," the SAS soldier muttered. He was unusally talkative, hm... "We both know that my mum's better. Anyway, it's immature to argue about whose mum's best."

"Hmph!" Ben crossed his arms, annoyed. "Immature argument? You replied, didn't you?"

"So?" Wolf narrowed his eyes, mirroring his friend's actions and crossing his arms.

Alex shook his head, listenting to the conversation with great amusement.

"Are they often like this?" he asked Eagle quietly, throwing a glance over his back at the chattering soldiers.

"Not really," Martin answered, shrugging. "but when they are... they can go on for _hours_:"

Alex chuckled and turned his attention back to the dinner. If someone had told him that K-Unit could act like _this_ while he was in Brecon Beacons, he might just accuse them of being crazy.

Then again, who wouldn't? This was the sort of thing you'd only believe if you saw it yourself.


	24. Chapter 24

AN: If I say that I'm really, really sorry and about this *armflail* ashamed, will it make a teeny-tiny bit of difference? Hrm. Either way, happy new year and merry christmas (even if it's a little late) and I can't thank you enough for actually sticking with this. I could offer you a three pages long explanation/excuse as to why it's taken so damn long and I haven't been replying to comments or signed in, but I have a feeling it's not what you'd like to read. Do try to enjoy this, though, and let's hope 2011 will be a better year for... updating and stuff :)

* * *

Alex glared at the heads of MI6. What gave them the right to kidnap him as he was walking home from school and bring him here, just like that, no explanations or anything? It wasn't fair. And rehearsals were _just_ over; Alex was tired in more ways than one.

"Relax, Alex, we only want to talk." Mrs Jones said, unwrapping one of her peppermints slowly, before popping it into her mouth and putting the wrapping back in her pocket.

"Yeah? I'm not interested." the teen replied, crossing his arms over his chest stubbornly.

"It's not about a new mission," she explained, trying to ease his mood. "It's about your last one."

"What about it?" Alex asked, frowning. This didn't sound good.

"Kurosaki has managed to escape." Blunt said, being predictably true to his name – blunt.

"What?" the teen hissed, clenching his jaw. Kurosaki was _the_ evil henchman; he was the Mr Grin of Herod Sayle. He was the Eva Stellenbosch of Hugo Grief. He was the Conrad of Alexei Sarov. He was the Nile of Julia Rothman.

He was the evil, sadistic, right hand that remained loyal throughout the whole ordeal. The one that, in the end, was the one who managed to hurt Alex – if only physically – the most.

And he had escaped.

"What do you mean, he's _escaped_?" Alex asked, willing himself to remain calm. Still, these people were MI-_freaking_-6; they were supposed to know what they were doing and dealing with. They couldn't let homicidal and possibly psychotic people _escape_.

"He caught two of our men off guard. He killed them and stole a car, along with some... confidential files." Mrs Jones answered, looking slightly uneasy. Alex _really_ didn't like where this was going.

"We have been unable to track him," Blunt stated, as grey and unemotional as ever. "But we suspect that he will be coming after you. That is why we would like–"

"Why do you suspect that?" the spy cut off, narrowing his eyes.

"Your file was among the ones he stole." Mrs Jones answered, looking firmly at a spot above Alex's shoulder.

The teen resisted the urge to groan and let his head drop down on the table. This was not happening.

"That is why we would like to have agents watching you," Blunt continued, unaffected by the teen's obvious despair and obviously extreme frustration. "Since you are living with an SAS soldier, we do not think it is necessary to move you to a safe house. But agents will be stationed at and around your school. They will also be going anywhere you are, to help prevent any form of attack."

"I don't have much of a say in this, do I?" Alex asked with an exasperated sigh. Although neither of the heads answered, he could see the answer in their eyes. "Alright, then. But I don't want them to interfere with my _normal_ everyday life, okay? I don't want to... interact with them."

"Of course." Mrs Jones nodded, relieved that he didn't put up a fight. "We will take care of it. We only wanted to warn you and make sure that you... take some extra care."

"Alright..." Alex nodded slowly before just realizing something. "What should I tell – Wolf?"

"We trust you will inform him of the situation." Blunt answered, stoically.

"Fortunately," Mrs Jones started. "We haven't had the opportunity to change the information in your file yet, so the address admitted is of the house in Chelsea. Kurosaki won't be coming after you at your current location."

The teen nodded, somewhat satisfied. Kurosaki wouldn't be visiting Wolf. That was good. Besides, MI6 had actually thought to warn him this time – that was certainly an improvement.

After a couple of awkward, silent minutes, Blunt cleared his throat, apparently thinking that the spy had had enough time to process the info.

"That is all, Alex. A car will be ready for you in three minutes."

Alex just nodded, grabbed his bag and stood up. He nodded to Mrs Jones and left the two heads of MI6, eager to get out of the stuffed, boring office. Being there had only ever brought him bad things.

Alex chose to walk down the endless sets of stairs instead of using the elevator. That was a rather absent-minded decision made because he was so used to always taking the stairs; another thing Ian had ingrained in him. It might not be much, but it was better to walk (even the smallest, most mundane everyday-exercise counted and all) and you couldn't really get caught in a set of stairs, should anything happen.

When he finally reached the bottom floor, Alex walked toward the double doors. Just being there made him a bit uncomfortable, and having to walk through those doors again didn't quite... sit well with him. He couldn't help flashing back to the time when he'd exited through those doors, in deep thought, and been shot. Right on MI6's doorstep.

But there really wasn't any way around it, so Alex slipped out the doors and took several steps to the right, choosing not to go _straight_ out this time. Perhaps it wouldn't do much of a difference, but it made him feel better.

Alex took his sweet time walking back to Wolf's apartment, thinking about what he was going to say when he got there. He would have to tell them _something_, that much was certain, but he didn't know exactly what. Alex didn't want to worry them needlessly; surely, K-Unit would be much calmer if they weren't aware of the

fact that a crazy psychopath was after their little "Cub"?

He could tell them that Mrs Jones had said that they had detected suspicious activity, or something along those lines, and that Alex should be on guard. That was _technically_ true, he wouldn't be lying and they would likely be more cautious as well. It was a win-win explanation.

The car ride back to Wolf's flat was quiet, but surprisingly _un_-tense. Sharing small quarters with a stranger was almost always awkward, and adding the fact that Alex was a teenage spy of MI6 and the man driving was bound to also have a connection to them... it was just weird.

It was over fairly quickly – considering they were taking numerous detours in an attempt to shake off anyone who might or might not be following – and Alex offered a sort-of-almost-impressively-stoic-and-professional "Goodbye", before he exited the car and headed for the apartment building.

When the spy entered the flat, he smiled faintly at the loud noises that could only be caused by a bunch of soldiers confined in a relatively small space; he'd come to expect always having company over. He wasn't really used to it, since neither Ian nor Jack had ever invited friends over regularly, and, well, it wasn't like there were any Riders left to bring over. It was nice, though.

"Alex!" Fox exclaimed happily, the first to notice the teen's arrival. "How was your day?"

Alex raised an eyebrow and kicked off his shoes as he watched his fellow agent rummage through a worn-out backpack that was hidden behind the jackets.

"What?" Ben asked, when he received no answer and saw the teen's expression.

"_How was your day?_ Soon you'll ask me to announce myself with 'Honey, I'm home'." Alex answered as he passed the older man. Fox managed to grin and look slightly indignant at the same time.

After dropping his bag in his room and visiting the rest room, Alex wandered into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. Leaning against the bench, he watched Eagle and Wolf as they tried to solve one of those 3D puzzles, with odd pieces that together formed a star. It was... rather amusing.

They kept taking apart what the other had done and claimed that it was wrong, redid it again and again and none of the attempts were even remotely close resembling a star.

Emptying the glass, Alex was about to head back to his room when Snake – whom had been entertaining himself with a book about something-or-another, although it didn't appear to be about history this time; probably an improvement – spoke up.

"Where's James?"

"Hm?" the teen looked at the medic, raising his eyebrows questioningly. "I don't know, probably back at the hotel. Why?"

"He said he was gonna pick you up after rehearsals." Snake said, frowning slightly. "You must've missed each other."

"Yeah."

"Why are you late, then?" Ben asked, having overheard the conversation from the hall. He voice was low as he spoke, face unusually tight; Alex had the feeling he was already half-clued in on something.

The teen started for his room, gesturing for Fox to follow him. Once the door was closed and they'd both settled down, the older agent repeated the question.

"Blunt and Mrs Jones wanted to see me," Alex admitted, glad that it was only Ben; the others had a few difficulties with keep their calm. Snake had shrugged it off as troubles with dealing with personal hardships that could be related to work outside of the field, or something along those lines.

However, Alex continued, "It was nothing special – just some warnings."

"The guy who took out two of our men and stole a bunch of files?" the teen nodded. "Right. All agents got a short briefing on that, just in case. Why would they call you in specifically, though?"

"I met him during my last mission." Alex answered, cautiously.

"Ah." Ben furrowed his eyebrows and nodded in understanding.

"Mhm." the younger spy replied, resisting the urge to clear his throat to fill the short silence.

"Now that we're both on the same page... what are you going to tell Wolf?"

"I don't want him to worry needlessly, you know?" Alex started, stood up and walked over to the drawer, absently picking on the pile of post-it notes with random messages from anyone who'd been near his gym locker; they were all surprisingly... friendly, considering all the rumours about him. Teasing, admittedly, daring and bizarre, sure – but not meant to actually offend. Their glue had long since dried, though.

"I figured I could mention it in passing when we eat, just to stay extra alert." Alex explained. "It's unlikely that something serious will happen," normally, but with his luck... "So I don't want to make a big deal of it. Besides, you know. If it comes down to it, you could always tell them what's going on."

The "What's the worse that could happen?" hung in the air, but the teen refused to say it. It was a horrible jinx and karma would undoubtedly find a way to bite him in the ass.

Ben sighed and ran a hand over his face, "I suppose you're right. But if anything happens, Alex..."

"You'll be the first to know." the teen promised.

"Good." Fox nodded and rose to his feet, giving Alex a meaningful look before excusing himself – "I've got to get out there and give Wolf and Eagle the solution to the puzzle, before their decide to trash it – literally," – finished it with a grin and then left the room, leaving the spy to his own devices.

Namely, homework and a certain manuscript. Wonderful.


	25. Chapter 25

Between school, homework, the play, dealing with K-Unit, hanging out with (partially babysitting) James, trying to fend off the group of girls Tom had dubbed "The Alex Rider fanclub" which consisted of so called "fangirls", Tom himself, cooking, being on constant guard because of Kurosaki and occasionally calling Jack, Alex had very little time for himself.

He had so much to do during the day, that when the night finally came around he was practically dead to the world. He'd never been so awfully busy for a great length of time, unless he was on "vacation" with Ian or a mission for MI6. It was a new experience, and not necessarily a bad one, despite the fact that the "fangirls" in charge of the costumes everyone would wear for the play had somehow found and decided to make him try on the most ridiculous outfits known to man.

On the upside, K-Unit plus James thought it was extremely funny when Tom showed them the pictures of Alex in the various, horrible costumes. And it was generally said that laughing was healthy, that a good laugh prolonged your life or something along those lines.

Although Alex wasn't entirely positive that was a good thing. For all he cared, they could all just drop down and play dead, if only so that he wouldn't have to deal with the constant teasing and the crappy jokes.

Then again, Wolf telling jokes was pretty amusing. Not because the jokes were particularly smart or funny, but because it was _Wolf_.

Apart from possibly having a psychotic murderer with a disturbing fetish for sharp things hot on his heels, life was good.

~~.._..~~

"And after that, at around six, the play will start – we're going to show it twice, once Friday evening and then Monday around noon, sort of to finish off the Festival. But about Friday – we were thinking that us girls can also dress up in medieval outfits, and sell tickets and tea, coffee and stuff right outside..." Jessica babbled on and on, never _stopped_, just continued on, talking about the Annual Festival and the how's and when's of it, even if they all knew most of it by now, considering the Festival always was the hot topic for a few weeks this time of the year. And they'd been through the procedure before.

That didn't make Jessica mute her rarely-ceasing-babbling, though. Alex, along with the rest of the male population of the class, had long since tuned the girl out to spare themselves.

The spy was texting back and forth with James, discussing nothing in particular; James was about as bored as Alex was, stuck with some snobby tutor who'd left him temporarily, leaving the teen to write a ten-pages-long essay on religions and beliefs.

Because when a teen is left to his own devices when he is supposed to do something important and school-related, _of course_ he follows through and works diligently. Uh-huh.

James hadn't answered in a while, though, so Alex suspected that the tutor was back. _Great_, there went that source of entertainment.

Instead, the spy switched to looking out the window, hoping that something remotely interesting would pass by.

Fifteen minutes later, the most interesting thing he'd seen was the stereotypical soccer mum who attempted to walk a humongous dog, carry two full shopping bags and chat with someone over the phone at the same time.

A another couple of minutes passed and Alex caught sight of a dark, hooded figure on the other side of the road, hiding behind a tree in the park. The figure was definitely looking at the school and seemed to be talking on the phone. Because that wasn't at all suspicious.

Alex frowned and shifted in his seat, trying to get a better look at the man.

His internal warning bells rang louder when he saw the man nod a couple of times, look in the general direction of Alex's current classroom and then leave.

_Crap_. Alex sighed and leaned back in his seat. There was nothing he could do right now, except hope that the "agents" stationed around the school had also seen the suspicious figure and followed him. If they'd done that, then perhaps they'd get lucky and find Kurosaki, and thereby take care of the mess before Alex became further involved.

The teen knew better than to expect anything like that, though, and while he could at least _hope_ for the best... judging from his experiences, it wouldn't be that easy. It never was.

~~.._..~~

With a muttered, "Better safe than sorry", Alex called James when the final bell rang. Few things were safer than cars that belonged to the Sprintz family, and their drivers were always top notch; not to mention the fact that they had special bodyguard training, and were uncannily attentive – coming from Alex, that was definitely saying something.

James picked up immediately – no doubt he had some embarrassing ringtone to identify Alex by – and promised to be pick the spy up in five minutes. They hung up and Alex was left waiting for his friend to show up. As it turned out, it was a good thing he'd foregone his bike in favour of riding with Fox this morning instead.

Most of his classmates had left already; today was the last day before the Festival they actually had off, without rehearsals or anything. The boys had stood up to the girls for once and convinced them to let everyone get a little rest before they plunged on. They were actually done with the play, which was great, but they'd passed onto the repeat-and-repeat-and-repeat-and-repeat-again stage.

The point, however, was that Alex was practically alone on this side of the school. Some classes were still going on, mostly practices, clubs and those sorts of things, but Alex was outside the library department – basically the one part of the school no club used as their HQ – sitting on the stairs to one of the back doors of the school.

The teen glanced at the park he'd been watching earlier today, recalling the hooded figure he'd seen. Something in the air had him on high alert; something was about to happen. A whispery voice in the back of his head stated that it was a bad idea to sit alone in such an exposed place, even with the "guards" stationed around the school. With his aforementioned luck, the guards probably wouldn't be a lick of help.

And true enough, the first shuriken appeared seemingly out of nowhere; Alex had only his quick reflexes to thank for a throwing star less in his chest. He cursed quietly as he grabbed his back and dived for cover behind a trash can, an odd number of small, gleaming throwing stars raining down on him.

Crouching with his bag over his head, Alex scanned the surrounding rooftops for the perpetrator; it was most likely Kurosaki. He couldn't think of anyone else who'd use throwing stars and what with the circumstances... it was a bit obvious.

Eventually, the shuriken stopped coming down and Alex glanced around; still with his bag over his head, he ran to the closest tree – which conveniently happened to be a big, ancient oak with an impressive trunk, and god that felt weird to even _think_ – and pressed himself against it; James would be coming here any minute, which would be a great getaway, but the downside of that was that Kurosaki would see the number plate of the car and quite likely connect it to James, hence putting him in danger. There was little Alex could do about that right now, though, considering his highest priority at the moment was, hm, getting out of this situation alive.

A dull "thud" told Alex that something had just fallen out of the tree he was pressed against. Well, more accurately: someone had just jumped out of the tree he was pressed against. He rolled his eyes at his unbelievable lack of luck and held his breath, taking slow, measured steps to the side, walking around the tree, vainly hoping that he wasn't going to literally bump into Kurosaki.

Halfway around the tree, Alex heard the steps that had previously been matching his own change the direction; he had time to brace himself and duck, before a small knife lodged itself in the tree, where his head had just been.

Kurosaki looked pretty much like he had the last time Alex had seen him, except that he was a lot paler and looked a lot angrier. His black hair was standing in every direction, his trademark ninja-ish clothes unkempt and dirty. His entire exterior screamed, "I've been obsessing over killing you, sworn to avenge my leader and by the end of this you'll be begging for me to kill you", which was just charming and exactly what Alex needed right now.

The teen dodged strikes aimed at his head and neck, retaliating whenever he saw an opportunity; it was a bit hard with his back against the tree, though.

Alex managed to strike out with his knee, hitting Kurosaki's hip, followed by a wholehearted punch aimed at the henchman's stomach; it wasn't much, but it was enough of a distraction to allow Alex to slip away and run a few paces. He was planning on finding a hiding place and just avoiding Kurosaki – Alex wasn't a big fan of actually escaping from a fight, but he did know when to get away instead of losing the fight or, you know, his life – but the plan was ruined when "All By Myself" (sung by _Céline Dion_ no less) made him pause and incredulously reach for his cellphone. James must've gotten his hands on it at some point and changed the ringtone again. Sweet.

"James," he said as he picked up. "The entrance, make sure the door's open and be ready to go fast."

Pausing had been a tremendously bad idea, as had walking slowly while on the phone been, because those few moments were enough for Kurosaki to gather himself and catch up. He plucked another couple of shuriken from somewhere on his body – it was getting ridiculous, the endless amounts of weapons hidden in his clothes – and with a deadly, but predictable, accuracy threw them after Alex.

The teen ran backwards, toward the school again, using his bag as a cover. He almost tripped on the stairs, but managed to stay upright and then, finally, made it to the double doors. Once he was inside he used a surprisingly convenient placed chair to barricade the doors. It wasn't nearly enough to keep Kurosaki from getting in, but it would buy Alex some time.

Now, he knew the school like the back of his hand, which made for a fantastic advantage, assuming that Kurosaki hadn't been doing his homework and studied the blueprints of the grounds. Alex took a long detour, going up and around the English classrooms, swung by the Home Economics before he jogged down three staircases and raced out the main entrance, thanking his lucky star when he saw the dark, supposed-to-be-inconspicuous-but-obviously-luxurious car standing there, one door open and waiting for him.

Alex spared a quick thought to the school and what Kurosaki could do to it, but recalling Kurosaki's behaviour and downright freaky obsessiveness, it was quite unlikely that he'd take that route. Kurosaki wanted Alex dead, the honest way; blackmailing would probably ruin the feeling of smugness and pride afterwards, or something.

So the spy ran, taking long strides and threw himself into the car. James cried, "Step on it!" before the door was even closed. They were on the road a moment later, speeding away and Alex would've been worried about a ticket if he didn't know that A) it wasn't like James would have any problem paying for it, and B) they had a psychotic killer on their tail.

"You're totally filling me in on what's going on as soon as we get home." James stated, with an uncharacteristically stern look. The teen could only nod as he clutched his seat, slightly distracted by the numerous excuses and explanations racing through his mind.

* * *

AN: now this is where I had a plan, but I didn't write for so long that I forgot it. I have vague ideas, of course, but I'd love to hear what you'd like to read. Can't promise I'll write it, but you never know. And, yeah, thanks again for being awesome. I have a long list of dedications, but I'll take that another time. You won't feel it if I hug my laptop, but feel loved. :)


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